Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XIV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FRUIT TREES.

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BOOK XIV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FRUIT TREES.

CHAPS. 1 & 2. (1.)—THE NATURE OF THE VINE. ITS MODE OF FRUCTIFICATION.

Those which have been hitherto mentioned, are, nearly all of them, exotic trees, which it is impossible to rear in any other than their native soil, and which are not to be naturalized in strange countries.¹ It is now for us to speak of the more ordinary kinds, of all of which Italy may be looked upon as more particularly the parent.² Those who are well acquainted with the subject, must only bear in mind that for the present we content ourselves with merely stating the different varieties of these trees, and not the mode of cultivating them, although there is no doubt that the characteristics of a tree depend very considerably upon its cultivation. At this fact I cannot sufficiently express my astonishment, that of some trees all memory has utterly perished, and that the very names of some, of which we find various authors making mention, have wholly disappeared.³ And yet who does not readily admit that now, when intercommunications have been opened between all parts of the world, thanks to the majestic sway of the Roman empire, civilization and the arts of life have made a rapid progress, owing to the interchange of commodities and the common enjoyment by all of the blessings of peace, while at the same time a multitude of objects which formerly lay concealed, are now revealed for our indiscriminate use?

Still, by Hercules! at the present day there are none to be found who have any acquaintance with much that has been handed down to us by the ancient writers; so much more comprehensive was the diligent research of our forefathers, or else so much more happily employed was their industry. It is a thousand years ago since Hesiod,⁴ at the very dawn, so to say, of literature, first gave precepts for the guidance of the agriculturist, an example which has since been followed by no small number of writers. Hence have originated considerable labours for ourselves, seeing that we have not only to enquire into the discoveries of modern times, but to ascertain as well what was known to the ancients, and this, too, in the very midst of that oblivion which the heedlessness of the present day has so greatly tended to generate. What causes then are we to assign for this lethargy, other than those Feelings which we find actuating the public in general throughout all the world? New manners and usages, no doubt, have now come into vogue, and the minds of men are occupied with subjects of a totally different nature; the arts of avarice, in fact, are the only ones that are now cultivated.

In days gone by, the sway and the destinies of states were bounded by their own narrow limits, and consequently the genius of the people was similarly circumscribed as well, through a sort of niggardliness that was thus displayed by Fortune: hence it became with them a matter of absolute necessity to employ the advantages of the understanding: kings innumerable received the homage of the arts, and in making a display of the extent of their resources, gave the highest rank to those arts, entertaining the opinion that it was through them that they should ensure immortality. Hence it was that due rewards, and the various works of civilization, were displayed in such vast abundance in those times. For these later ages, the enlarged boundaries of the habitable world, and the vast extent of our empire, have been a positive injury. Since the Censor has been chosen for the extent of his property, since the judge has been selected according to the magnitude of his fortune, since it has become the fashion to consider that nothing reflects a higher merit upon the magistrate and the general than a large estate, since the being destitute of heirs⁵ has begun to confer upon persons the very highest power and influence, since legacy-hunting⁶ has become the most lucrative of all professions, and since it has been considered that the only real pleasures are those of possessing, all the true enjoyments of life have been utterly lost sight of, and all those arts which have derived the name of liberal, from liberty,⁷ that greatest blessing of life, have come to deserve the contrary appellation, servility alone being the passport to profit.

This servility each one has his own peculiar way of making most agreeable, and of putting in practice in reference to others, the motives and the hopes of all tending to the one great object, the acquisition of wealth: indeed, we may everywhere behold men even of naturally excellent qualities preferring to foster the vicious inclinations of others rather than cultivate their own talents. We may therefore conclude, by Hercules! that pleasure has now begun to live, and that life, truly so called, has ceased to be.⁸ As to ourselves, however, we shall continue our researches into matters now lost in oblivion, nor shall we be deterred from pursuing our task by the trivial nature⁹ of some of our details, a consideration which has in no way influenced us in our description of the animal world. And yet we find that Virgil, that most admirable poet, has allowed this to influence him, in his omission to enlarge upon the beauties of the garden; for, happy and graceful poet as he is, he has only culled what we may call the flower of his subject: indeed, we find that he has only named¹⁰ in all some fifteen varieties of the grape, three of the olive, the same number of the pear, and the citron of Assyria, and has passed over the rest in silence altogether.

(2). With what then ought we to begin in preference to the vine, the superiority in which has been so peculiarly con- ceded to Italy, that in this one blessing we may pronounce her to have surpassed those of all other nations of the earth, with the sole exception of those that bear the various perfumes? and even there, when the vine is in flower, there is not a perfume known which in exquisite sweetness can surpass it. The vine has been justly reckoned¹¹ by the ancients among the trees, on account of its remarkable size. In the city of Populonium, we see a statue of Jupiter formed of the trunk of a single vine, which has for ages remained proof against all decay; and at Massilia, there is a patera made of the same wood. At Metapontum, the temple of Juno has long stood supported by pillars formed of the like material; and even at the present day we ascend to the roof of the temple of Diana at Ephesus, by stairs constructed, it is said, of the trunk of a single vine, that was brought from Cyprus; the vines of that island often attaining a most remarkable size. There is not a wood in existence of a more lasting nature than this; I am strongly inclined, however, to be of opinion that the material of which these various articles were constructed was the wild vine.

CHAP. 3.–THE NATURE OF THE GRAPE, AND THE CULTIVATION OF THE VINE.

The cultivated vine is kept down by pruning every year, and all the strength of the tree is drawn as much as possible into the shoots, or else thrown downwards to the sets;¹² indeed, it is only allowed to expand with the view of ensuring an abundant supply of juice, a result which is obtained in various modes according to the peculiarities of the climate and the nature of the soil. In Campania they attach¹³ the vine to the poplar: embracing the tree to which it is thus wedded, the vine grasps the branches with its amorous arms, and as it climbs, holds on with its knotted trunk, till it has reached the very summit; the height being sometimes so stupendous that the vintager when hired is wont to stipulate for his funeral pile and a grave at the owner's expense. The vine keeps continually on the increase, and it is quite impossible to separate the two, or rather, I may say, to tear them asunder. Valerianus Cornelius has regarded it as one of the most remarkable facts that could be transmitted to posterity, that single vines have been known to surround villas and country houses with their shoots and creeping tendrils ever on the stretch. At Rome, in the porticoes of Livia, a single vine, with its leaf-clad trellises, protects with its shade the walks in the open air; the fruit of it yields twelve amphoræ of must.¹⁴

Everywhere we find the vine overtopping the elm even, and we read that Cineas,¹⁵ the ambassador of King Pyrrhus, when admiring the great height of the vines at Aricia, wittily making allusion to the peculiar rough taste of wine, remarked that it was with very good reason that they had hung the parent of it on so lofty a gibbet. There is a tree in that part of Italy which lies beyond the Padus,¹⁶ known as the "rumpotinus,"¹⁷ or sometimes by the name of "opulus," the broad circular¹⁸ storeys of which are covered with vines, whose branches wind upwards in a serpentine form to the part where the boughs finally divide,¹⁹ and then, throwing out their tendrils, disperse them in every direction among the straight and finger-like twigs which project from the branches. There are vines also, about as tall as a man of moderate height, which are supported by props, and, as they throw out their bristling tendrils, form whole vineyards: while others, again, in their inordinate love for climbing, combined with skill on the part of the proprietor, will cover even the very centre²⁰ of the court-yard with their shoots and foliage. So numerous are the varieties of the vine which even Italy alone presents.

In some of the provinces the vine is able to stand of itself without anything to support it, drawing in its bending branches, and making up in its thickness for its stunted size. In other places, again, the winds will not allow of this mode of culture, as in Africa, for instance, and various parts of the province of Gallia Narbonensis. These vines, being prevented from growing beyond the first branches, and hence always retaining a resemblance to those plants which stand in need of the hoe, trail along the ground just like them, and every here and there suck²¹ up the juices from the earth to fill their grapes: it is in consequence of this, that in the interior of Africa the clusters²² are known to exceed the body of an infant in size. The wine of no country is more acid than those of Africa, but there is nowhere to be found a grape that is more agreeable for its firmness, a circumstance which may very probably have given rise to its name of the "hard grape."²³ As to the varieties of the grape, although they are rendered innumerable by the size, the colour, and the flavour of the berry, they are multiplied even still more by the wines that they produce. In one part they are lustrous with a rich purple colour, while in another, again, they glow with a rosy tint, or else are glossy with their verdant hue. The grapes that are merely white or black are the common sorts. The bumastus²⁴ swells out in form like a breast, while that known as the "dactylus,"²⁵ has a berry of remarkable length. Nature, too, displays such varieties in these productions of hers, that small grapes are often to be found adhering to the largest vines, but of surpassing sweetness; they are known by the name of "leptorragæ."²⁶ Some, again, will keep throughout the winter, if care is taken to hang them to the ceiling²⁷ with a string; while others, again, will keep by virtue of their own natural freshness and vigour, if put into earthen jars, which are then enclosed in dolia,²⁸ and covered up with the fermenting husks of grapes. Some grapes receive from the smoke of the blacksmith's forge that remarkable flavour which it is also known to impart to wines: it was the high name of the Emperor Tiberius that brought into such great repute the grapes that had been smoked in the smithies of Africa. Before his time the highest rank at table was assigned to the grapes of Rhætia,²⁹ and to those growing in the territory of Verona.

Raisins of the sun have the name of "passi," from having been submitted³⁰ to the influence of the sun. It is not uncommon to preserve grapes in must, and so make them drunk with their own juices; while there are some that are all the sweeter for being placed in must after it has been boiled; others, again, are left to hang on the parent tree till a new crop has made its appearance, by which time they have become as clear and as transparent³¹ as glass. Astringent pitch, if poured upon the footstalk of the grape, will impart to it all that body and that firmness which, when placed in dolia or amphoræ, it gives to wine. More recently, too, there has been discovered a vine which produces a fruit that imparts to its wine a strong flavour of pitch: it is the famous grape that confers such celebrity on the territory of Vienne,³² and of which several varieties have recently enriched the territories of the Arverni, the Sequani, and the Helvii:³³ it was unknown in the time of the poet Virgil, who has now been dead these ninety years.³⁴

In addition to these particulars, need I make mention of the fact that the vine³⁵ has been introduced into the camp and placed in the centurion's hand for the preservation of the supreme authority and command? that this is the high reward which summons the lagging ranks to the eagles raised aloft,³⁶ and that even in chastisement for faults it tends to reflect honour upon the punishment?³⁷ It was the vineyard, too, that first afforded a notion,³⁸ the practical utility of which has been experienced in many a siege. Among the medicinal preparations, too, the vine holds so high a place, that its very wines taken by themselves are efficacious as remedies for disease.³⁹

CHAP. 4. (2.)—NINETY-ONE VARIETIES OF THE VINE.

Democritus, who has declared that he was acquainted with every variety of the grape known in Greece, is the only person who has been of opinion that every kind could be enumerated; but, on the other hand, the rest of the authors have stated that they are quite innumerable⁴⁰ and of infinite extent, an assertion the truth of which will be more evident, if we only consider the vast number of wines. I shall not attempt, then, to speak of every kind of vine, but only of those that are the most remarkable, seeing that the varieties are very nearly as numberless as the districts in which they grow. It will suffice, then, to point out those which are the most remarkable among the vines, or else are peculiar for some wonderful property.

The very highest rank is given to the Aminean⁴¹ grape, on account of the body and durability of its wine, which improves with old age. There are five varieties of the Aminean grape; of these, the smaller germana, or "sister" grape, has a smaller berry than the rest, and flowers more strongly, being able to tear up against rain and tempestuous weather; a thing that is not the case with the larger germana, though it is less exposed to danger when attached to a tree than when supported only by a trellis. Another kind, again, has obtained the name of the "gemella," or "twin" grape, because the clusters always grow⁴² in couples: the flavour of the wine is extremely rough, but it is remarkable for its strength. Of these several varieties the smaller one suffers from the south wind, but receives nutriment from all the others, upon Mount Vesuvius, for instance, and the hills of Surrentum: in the other parts of Italy it is never grown except attached to trees. The fifth kind is that known as the lanata, or "woolly" grape; so that we need not be surprised at the wool-bearing trees⁴³ of the Seres or the Indians, for this grape is covered with a woolly down of remarkable thickness. It is the first of the Aminean vines that ripens, but the grape decays with remarkable rapidity.

The second rank belongs to the vines of Nomentum,⁴⁴ the wood of which is red, from which circumstance the vines have received from some the name of "rubellæ." The grapes of this vine produce less wine than usual, in consequence of the extraordinary quantity of husk and lees they throw off: but the vine is remarkably strong, is well able to stand the frost, and is apt to receive more detriment from drought than from rain, from heat than from cold; hence it is that those are looked upon as the best that are grown in cold and moist localities. That variety which has the smallest grape is con- sidered the most fruitful: the one which has a jagged leaf is less productive.

The vine known as the "apiana,"⁴⁵ has received that name from the bee, an insect which is remarkably fond of it: there are two varieties of this vine. This grape, too, is covered in its young state with a kind of down; the main difference between the two varieties is, that the one ripens more rapidly than the other, though this last ripens with considerable quickness. A cold locality is not at all hurtful to them, although there is no grape that ripens sooner: these grapes, however, very soon rot in the rain. The wines produced by this grape are sweet at first, but contract a rough flavour in the course of years. This vine is cultivated more than any other in Etruria. Thus far we have made mention of the more celebrated vines among those which are peculiar and indigenous to Italy; the rest have been introduced from Chios or Thasos.

The small Greek⁴⁶ grape is not inferior to the Aminean for the excellence of its quality: the berry is remarkably thin- skinned, and the cluster so extremely small,⁴⁷ that it is not worth while cultivating it, except on a soil of remarkable richness. The eugenia,⁴⁸ so called from its high qualities, has been introduced into the Alban territory from the hills of Tauromenium:⁴⁹ it is found, however, to thrive only there, for if transplanted elsewhere it degenerates immediately: in fact, there is in some vines so strong an attachment to their native soil, that they leave behind them all their high repute, and are never transplanted in their full entirety. This is the case, too, with the Rhætian and the Allobrogian grapes, of which we have made mention above as the pitch-flavoured⁵⁰ grape; these are justly deemed excellent in their own coun- try, while elsewhere they are held in no esteem at all. Still, however, in consequence of their remarkable fertility, they make up for quality by abundance: the eugenia thrives in spots which are scorching hot, the Rhætian vine in places of a more moderate temperature, and the Allobrogian in cold, exposed situations, the fruit being of a black colour, and ripened by the agency of frost.

The wines produced from the vines of which we have hitherto made mention, even though the grapes are black, become, all of them, when old, of a white⁵¹ complexion. The other vines are of no note in particular, though sometimes, thanks to some peculiarity either in the climate or the soil, the wines produced from them attain a mature old age; such, for instance, as the Fecenian⁵² vine, and the Biturigian,⁵³ which blossoms at the same time with it, but has not so many grapes. The blossoms of these last-mentioned vines are not liable to receive injury, both because they are naturally but transitory, and have the power of resisting the action of both wind and storm; still, however, those that grow in cold spots are considered superior to those produced in a warm site, and those found in moist places superior to those grown in dry, thirsty localities.

The vine known as the "visula"⁵⁴ * * * * more than abundance of fruit, being unable to endure the extreme variations of the atmosphere, though it is very well able to stand a continuation of either cold or heat. Of this last kind the smaller one is the best, but difficult to please in its choice; in a rich earth it is apt to rot, while in a thin soil it will come to nothing at all: in its fastidiousness it requires a soil of middling quality, and hence it is that it is so commonly found on the hills of the Sabine territory. Its grape is unsightly in appearance, but has a very pleasant flavour: if it is not gathered at the very moment that it is ripe, it will fall, even before it decays. The extreme size of the leaves, and its natural hardi- ness, are its great protection against the disastrous effects of hail.

The grapes known as "helvolæ"⁵⁵ are remarkable for the peculiarity of their colour, which is a sort of midway between purple and black, but varies so frequently that it has made some persons give them the name of "varianæ." Of the two sorts of helvolæ, the black is the one generally preferred: they both of them produce every other year, but the wine is best when the vintage has been less abundant.

The vine that is known as the "precia"⁵⁶ is also divided into two varieties, distinguished by the size of the grape. These vines produce a vast quantity of wood, and the grape is very good for preserving in jars;⁵⁷ the leaves are similar in appearance to that of parsley.⁵⁸ The people of Dyrrhachium hold in high esteem the vine known as the "basilica," the same which in Spain is called the "cocolobis."⁵⁹ The grapes of this vine grow in thin clusters, and it can stand great heat, and the south winds. The wine produced from it is apt to fly to the head:⁶⁰ the produce of the vine is very large. The people in Spain distinguish two kinds of this vine, the one with the oblong, the other with the round grape; they gather this fruit the very last of all. The sweeter the cocolobis is, the more it is valued; but even if it has a rough taste, the wine will become sweet by keeping, while, on the other hand, that which was sweet at first, will acquire a certain roughness; it is in this last state that the wine is thought to rival that of Alba.⁶¹ It is said that the juice of this grape is remarkably efficacious when drunk as a specific for diseases of the bladder.

The "albuelis"⁶² produces most of its fruit at the top of the tree, the visula at the bottom; hence, when planted around the same tree, in consequence of these peculiarities in their nature, they bear between them a two-fold crop. One of the black grape vines has been called the "inerticula,"⁶³ though it might with more propriety have been styled the "sobria;"⁶⁴ the wine from it is remarkably good, and more particularly when old; but though strong, it is productive of no ill effects, and, indeed, is the only wine that will not cause intoxication.

The abundance of their produce again recommends other vines to us, and, in the first place, that known as the "helvennaca."⁶⁵ Of this vine there are two kinds; the larger, which is by some called the "long" helvennaca, and the smaller kind, which is known as the "emarcum,"⁶⁶ not so prolific as the first, but producing a wine of more agreeable flavour; it is distinguished by its rounded leaf, but they are both of them of slender make. It is requisite to place forks beneath these vines for the support of their branches, as otherwise it would be quite impossible for them to support the weight of their produce: they receive nutriment from the breezes that blow from the sea, and foggy weather is injurious to them. There is not one among the vines that manifests a greater aversion to Italy, for there it becomes comparatively leafless and stunted, and soon decays, while the wine which it produces there will not keep beyond the summer: no vine, however, thrives better in a poor soil. Græcinus, who has copied from the works of Cornelius Celsus, gives it as his opinion that it is not that the nature of this vine is repugnant to the climate of Italy, but that it is the mode of cultivating it that is wrong, and the anxiety to force it to put forth its shoots; a mode of treatment, he thinks, which absorbs all its fertility, unless the soil in which it is planted happens to be remarkably rich, and by its support prevents it from being exhausted. It is said that this vine is never carbuncled,⁶⁷ a remarkable quality, if, indeed, it really is the fact that there is any vine in existence that is exempt from the natural influences of the climate.

The spionia, by some called the "spinea,"⁶⁸ is able to bear heat very well, and thrives in the autumn and rainy weather: indeed, it is the only one among all the vines that does well amid fogs, for which reason it is peculiar to the territory of Ravenna.⁶⁹ The venicula⁷⁰ is one of those that blossom the strongest, and its grapes are particularly well adapted for preserving in jars. The Campanians, however, prefer to give it the name of "scircula," while others, again, call it "stacula." Tarracina has a vine known as the "numisiana;" it has no qualities of its own, but has characteristics just according to the nature of the soil in which it is planted: the wine, however, if kept in the earthen casks⁷¹ of Surrentum, is remarkable for its goodness, that is to say, as far south as Vesuvius. On arriving in that district, we find the Murgentina,⁷² the very best among all those that come from Sicily. Some, indeed, call the vine "Pompeiana,"⁷³ and it is more particularly fruitful when grown in Latium, just as the "horconia"⁷⁴ is productive nowhere but in Campania. Of a contrary nature is the vine known as the "argeica," and by Virgil called "argitis:"⁷⁵ it makes the ground all the more⁷⁶ productive, and is remark- ably stout in its resistance to rain and the effects of old age, though it will hardly produce wine every year; it is remarkable for the abundant crops which it bears, though the grapes are held but in small esteem for eating. The vine known as the "metica" lasts well for years, and offers a successful resistance to all changes of weather; the grape is black, and the wine assumes a tawny hue when old.

(3.) The varieties that have been mentioned thus far are those that are generally known; the others belong to peculiar countries or individual localities, or else are of a mixed nature, the produce of grafting. Thus the vine known as the "Tudernis,"⁷⁷ is peculiar to the districts of Etruria, and so too is the vine that bears the name of "Florentia." At Arretium the talpona, the etesiaca, and the consemina, are particularly excellent.⁷⁸ The talpona,⁷⁹ which is a black grape, produces a pale, straw-coloured⁸⁰ must: the etesiaca⁸¹ is apt to deceive; the more the wine it produces the better the quality, but it is a remarkable fact, that just as it has reached that point its fecundity ceases altogether. The consemina⁸² bears a black grape, but its wine will not keep, though the grape itself is a most excellent keeper; it is gathered fifteen days later than any other kind of grape: this vine is very fruitful, but its grape is only good for eating. The leaves of this tree, like those of the wild vine, turn the colour of blood just before the fall: the same is the case also with some⁸³ other varieties, but it is a proof that they are of very inferior quality.

The irtiola⁸⁴ is a vine peculiar to Umbria and the terri- tories of Mevania and Picenum, while the pumula⁸⁵ belongs to Amiternum. In the same districts we find the vine called bannannica,⁸⁶ which is very deceptive, though the people are remarkably fond of its fruit. The municipal town of Pompeii has given its name to the Pompeia,⁸⁷ although it is to be found in greater abundance in the territory of Clusium. The Tiburina, also, is so called from the municipal town of Tibûr, although it is in this district that they have lately discovered the grape known as the "oleaginea," from its strong resemblance to an olive: this being the very last kind of grape that has been introduced. The Sabines and the Laurentes are the only people acquainted with the vinaciola.⁸⁸ As to the vines of Mount Gaurus,⁸⁹ I am aware that, as they have been transplanted from the Falernian territory, they bear the name of "Falernian:" but it is a fact that the Falernian vine, when transplanted, rapidly degenerates. Some persons, too, have made out a Tarentine variety, with a grape of remarkable sweetness: the grapes of the "capnios,"⁹⁰ the "bucconiatis,"⁹¹ and the "tarrupia," grow on the hills of Thurii, and are never gathered till after the frost commences. Pisæ enjoys the Parian vine, and Mutina the prusinian,⁹² with a black grape, the wine of which turns pale within four years. It is a very remarkable thing, but there is a grape here that turns round with the sun, in its diurnal motion, a circumstance from which it has received the name of "streptos."⁹³ In Italy, the ⁹⁴ Gallic vine is a great favourite, while beyond the Alps that of Picenum⁹⁵ is preferred. Virgil has made mention⁹⁶ of the Thasian vine, the Mareotis, the lagea, and several other foreign varieties, which are not to be found in Italy.

There are some vines, again, that are remarkable, not for their wine, but for their grapes, such, for instance, as the ambrosia,⁹⁷ one of the "duracinus"⁹⁸ kind, a grape which requires no potting, but will keep perfectly well if left on the vine, so remarkable is the strength with which it is endowed for withstanding the effects of cold, heat, and stormy weather. The "orthampelos,"⁹⁹ too, is a vine that requires neither tree nor stay, as it is well able to sustain its own weight. This, however, is not the case with the "dactylis,"¹⁰⁰ the stem of which is no thicker than the finger. The "columbina"¹⁰¹ is one of those with the finest clusters, and still more so is the purple "bimammia;" it does not bear in clusters,¹⁰² but only secondary bunches. There is the tripedanea,¹⁰³ too, a name which it owes to the length of its clusters, and the scirpula,¹⁰⁴ with its shrivelled berry; the Rhætica,¹⁰⁵ too, so called in the Maritime Alps, though very different from the grape of that name which is so highly esteemed, and of which we have previously spoken; for in this variety the clusters are small, the grapes lie closely packed, and it produces but a poor wine. It has, however, the thinnest skin of all the grapes, and a single stone,¹⁰⁶ of very diminutive size, which is known as the "Chian;"¹⁰⁷ one or two of the grapes on the cluster are remarkably large. There is also the black Aminean, to which the name of Syriaca is given: the Spanish vine, too, the very best of all those of inferior quality.

The grapes that are known as escariæ,¹⁰⁸ are grown on trellises. Of the duracinus¹⁰⁹ kind, there are those known as the white and the black varieties; the bumastus, too, is similarly distinguished in colour. Among the vines too, that have not as yet been mentioned, there are the Ægian and the Rhodian¹¹⁰ kinds, as also the uncialis, so called, it would seem, from its grape being an ounce in weight. There is the picina¹¹¹ too, the blackest¹¹² grape known, and the stephanitis,¹¹³ the clusters of which Nature, in a sportive mood, has arranged in the form of a garland, the leaves being interspersed¹¹⁴ among the grapes; there are the grapes, too, known as the "forenses,"¹¹⁵ and which quickly come to maturity, recommend themselves to the buyer by their good looks, and are easily carried from place to place.

On the other hand, those known as the "cinerea"¹¹⁶ are condemned by their very looks, and so are the rabuscula¹¹⁷ and the asinusca;¹¹⁸ the produce of the alopecis,¹¹⁹ which resembles in colour a fox's tail, is held in less disesteem. The Alexandrina¹²⁰ is the name of a vine that grows in the vicinity of Pha- lacra: it is of stunted growth, and has branches a cubit in length; the grape is black, about the size of a bean, with a berry that is soft, and remarkably small: the clusters hang in a slanting direction, and are remarkably sweet; the leaves are small and round, without any division.¹²¹ Within the last seven years there has been introduced at Alba Helvia,¹²² in the province of Gallia Narbonensis, a vine which blossoms but a single day, and is consequently proof against all accidents: the name given to it is "Narbonica," and it is now planted throughout the whole of that province.

CHAP. 5. (4.)—REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH THE CULTURE OF THE VINE.

The elder Cato, who was rendered more particularly illustrious by his triumph¹²³ and the censorship, and even more so by his literary fame, and the precepts which he has given to the Roman people upon every subject of utility, and the proper methods of cultivation in particular; a man who, by the universal confession, was the first husbandman of his age and without a rival-has mentioned a few varieties only of the vine, the very names of some of which are by this utterly forgotten.¹²⁴ His statement on this subject deserves our separate consideration, and requires to be quoted at length, in order that we may make ourselves acquainted with the different varieties of this tree that were held in the highest esteem in the year of the City of Rome 600, about the time of the capture of Carthage and Corinth, the period of his death: it will show too, what great advances civilization has made in the last two hundred and thirty years. The following are the remarks which he has made on the subject of the vine and the grape.

"Where the site is considered to be most favourable to the growth of the vine, and exposed to the warmth of the sun, you will do well to plant the small¹²⁵ Aminean, as well as the two eugenia,¹²⁶ and the smaller helvia.¹²⁷ On the other hand, where the soil is bf a denser nature or more exposed to fogs, the greater Aminean should be planted, or else the Murgentine,¹²⁸ or the Apician of Lucania. The other varieties of the grape are, for the most part, adapted to any kind of soil; they are best preserved in a lora.¹²⁹ The best for keeping by hanging, are the duracinus kind, the greater Aminean, and the Scantian;¹³⁰ these, too, will make excellent raisins for keeping if dried at the blacksmith's forge." There are no precepts in the Latin language on this subject more ancient than these, so near are we to the very commencement of all our practical knowledge! The Aminean grape, of which mention has been made above, is by Varro called the "Scantian."

In our own times we have but few instances of any consummate skill that has been manifested in reference to this subject: the less excuse then should we have for omitting any particular which may tend to throw a light upon the profits that may be derived from the culture of the vine, a point which on all occasions is regarded as one of primary importance. Acilius Sthenelus, a man of plebeian rank, and the son of a freedman, acquired very considerable repute from the cultivation of a vineyard in the territory of Nomentum, not more than sixty jugera in extent, and which he finally sold for four hundred thousand sesterces. Vetulenus Ægialus too, a freedman as well, acquired very considerable note in the district of Liternum,¹³¹ in Campania, and, indeed, received a more extensive share of the public favour, from the fact that he cultivated the spot which had been the place of exile of Scipio Africanus.¹³² The greatest celebrity of all, however, was that which, by the agency of the same Sthenelus, was accorded to Rhemmius Palæmon, who was also equally famous as a learned grammarian. This person bought, some twenty years ago, an estate at the price of six hundred thousand sesterces in the same district of Nomentum, about ten miles distant from the City of Rome. The low price of property¹³³ in the suburbs, on every side of the City, is well known; but in that quarter in particular, it had declined to a most remarkable extent; for the estate which he purchased had become deteriorated by long-continued neglect, in addition to which it was situate in the very worst part of a by no means favourite locality.¹³⁴ Such was the nature of the property of which he thus undertook the cultivation, not, indeed, with any commendable views or intentions at first, but merely in that spirit of vanity for which he was notorious in so remarkable a degree. The vineyards were all duly dressed afresh, and hoed, under the superintendence of Sthenelus; the result of which was that Palæmon, while thus playing the husbandman, brought this estate to such an almost incredible pitch of perfection, that at the end of eight years the vintage, as it hung on the trees, was knocked down to a purchaser for the sum of four hundred thousand sesterces; while all the world was running to behold the heaps upon heaps of grapes to be seen in these vineyards. The neighbours, by way of finding some excuse for their own indolence, gave all the credit of this remarkable success to Palæmon's profound erudition; and at last Annæus Seneca,¹³⁵ who both held the highest rank in the learned world, and an amount of power and influence which at last proved too much for him—this same Seneca, who was far from being an admirer of frivolity, was seized with such vast admiration of this estate, as not to Feel ashamed at conceding this victory to a man who was otherwise the object of his hatred, and who would be sure to make the very most of it, by giving him four times the original cost for those very vineyards, and that within ten years from the time that he had taken them under his management. This was an example of good husbandry worthy to be put in practice upon the lands of Cæcuba and of Setia; for since then these same lands have many a time produced as much as seven culei to the jugerum, or in other words, one hundred and forty amphoræ of must. That no one, however, may entertain the belief that ancient times were surpassed on this occasion, I would remark that the same Cato has stated in his writings, that the proper return was seven culei to the jugerum: all of them so many instances only tending most convincingly to prove that the sea, which in our rashness we trespass upon, does not make a more bounteous return to the merchant, no, not even the merchandize that we seek on the shores of the Red and the Indian Seas, than does a well-tilled homestead to the agriculturist.

CHAP. 6.—THE MOST ANCIENT WINES.

The wine of Maronea,¹³⁶ on the coast of Thrace, appears to have been the most celebrated in ancient times, as we learn from the writings of Homer. I dismiss, however, all the fabulous stories and various traditions which we find relative to its origin, except, indeed, the one which states that Aristæus,¹³⁷ a native of the same country, was the first person that mixed honey¹³⁸ with wine, natural productions, both of them, of the highest degree of excellence. Homer¹³⁹ has stated that the Maronean wine was mixed with water in the proportion of twenty measures of water to one of wine. The wine that is still produced in the same district retains all its former strength, and a degree of vigour that is quite insuperable.¹⁴⁰ Mucianus, who thrice held the consulship, and one of our most recent authors, when in that part of the world was witness himself to the fact, that with one sextarius of this Wine it was the custom to mix no less than eighty sextarii of water: he states, also, that this wine is black,¹⁴¹ has a strong bouquet, and is all the richer for being old.

The Pramnian wine, too, which Homer¹⁴² has also similarly eulogized, still retains its ancient fame: it is grown in the territory of Smyrna, in the vicinity of the shrine of the Mother¹⁴³ of the Gods.

Among the other wines now known, we do not find any that enjoyed a high reputation in ancient times. In the year of the consulship of L. Opimius, when C. Gracchus,¹⁴⁴ the tribune of the people, engaging in sedition, was slain, the growth of every wine was of the very highest quality. In that year, the weather was remarkable for its sereneness, and the ripening of the grape, the "coctura,"¹⁴⁵ as they call it, was fully effected by the heat of the sun. This was in the year of the City 633. There are wines still preserved of this year's growth, nearly two hundred years ago; they have assumed the consistency of honey, with a rough taste; for such, in fact, is the nature of wines, that, when extremely old, it is impossible to drink them in a pure state; and they require to be mixed with water, as long keeping renders them intolerably bitter.¹⁴⁶ A very small quantity of the Opimian wine, mixed with them, will suffice for the seasoning of other wines. Let us suppose, according to the estimated value of these wines in those days, that the original price of them was one hundred sesterces per amphora: if we add to this six per- cent. per annum, a legal and moderate interest, we shall then be able to ascertain what was the exact price of the twelfth part of an amphora at the beginning of the reign of Caius Cæsar, the son of Germanicus, one hundred and sixty years after that consulship. In relation to this fact, we have a remarkable instance,¹⁴⁷ when we call to mind the life of Pom- ponius Secundus, the poet, and the banquet which he gave to that prince¹⁴⁸—so enormous is the capital that lies buried in our cellars of wine! Indeed, there is no one thing, the value of which more sensibly increases up to the twentieth year, or which decreases with greater rapidity after that period, supposing that the value of it is not by that time greatly enhanced.¹⁴⁹ Very rarely, indeed, up to the present day, has it been known for a single¹⁵⁰ piece of wine to cost a thousand sesterces, except, indeed, when such a sum may have been paid in a fit of extravagance and debauchery. The people of Vienne, it is said, are the only ones who have set a higher price than this upon their "picata," wines, the various kinds of which we have already mentioned;¹⁵¹ and this, it is thought, they only do, vying with each other, and influenced by a sort of national self-esteem. This wine, drunk in a cool state, is generally thought to be of a colder¹⁵² temperature than any other.

CHAP. 7. (5.)—THE NATURE OF WINES.

It is the property of wine, when drunk, to cause a Feeling of warmth in the interior of the viscera, and, when poured upon the exterior of the body, to be cool and refreshing. It will not be foreign to my purpose on the present occasion to state the advice which Androcydes, a man famous for his wisdom, wrote to Alexander the Great, with the view of putting a check on his intemperance: "When you are about to drink wine, O king!" said he, "remember that you are about to drink the blood of the earth: hemlock is a poison to man, wine a poison¹⁵³ to hemlock." And if Alexander had only followed this advice, he certainly would not have had to answer for slaying his friends¹⁵⁴ in his drunken fits. In fact, we may Feel ourselves quite justified in saying that there is nothing more useful than wine for strengthening the body, while, at the same time, there is nothing more pernicious as a luxury, if we are not on our guard against excess.

CHAP. 8. (6.)—FIFTY KINDS OF GENEROUS WINES.

Who can entertain a doubt that some kinds of wine are more agreeable to the palate than others, or that even out of the very same vat¹⁵⁵ there are occasionally produced wines that are by no means of equal goodness, the one being much superior to the other, whether it is that it is owing to the cask,¹⁵⁶ or to some other fortuitous circumstance? Let each person, therefore, constitute himself his own judge as to which kind it is that occupies the pre-eminence. Livia¹⁵⁷ Augusta, who lived to her eighty-second year,¹⁵⁸ attributed her longevity to the wine of Pucinum,¹⁵⁹ as she never drank any other. This wine is grown near a bay of the Adriatic, not far from Mount Timavus, upon a piece of elevated rocky ground, where the sea-breeze ripens a few grapes, the produce of which supplies a few amphoræ: there is not a wine that is deemed superior to this for medicinal purposes. I am strongly of opinion that this is the same wine, the produce of the Adriatic Gulf, upon which the Greeks have bestowed such wonderful encomiums, under the name of Prætetianum.

The late Emperor Augustus preferred the Setinum to all others, and nearly all the emperors that have succeeded him have followed his example, having learnt from actual experience that there is no danger of indigestion and flatulence resulting from the use of this liquor: this wine is grown in the country¹⁶⁰ that lies just above Forum Appii.¹⁶¹ In former times the Cæcubum enjoyed the reputation of being the most generous of all the wines; it was grown in some marshy swamps, planted with poplars, in the vicinity¹⁶² of the Gulf of Amyclæ. This vineyard has, however, now disappeared, the result of the carelessness of the cultivator, combined with its own limited extent, and the works on the canal which Nero commenced, in order to provide a navigation from Lake Avernus to Ostia.

The second rank belonged to the wine of the Falernian territory, of which the Faustianum was the most choice variety; the result of the care and skill employed upon its cultivation. This, however, has also degenerated very considerably, in consequence of the growers being more solicitous about quantity¹⁶³ than quality. The Falernian¹⁶⁴ vineyards begin at the bridge of Campania, on the left-hand as you journey towards the Urbana Colonia of Sylla, which was lately a township of the city of Capua. As to the Faustian vineyards, they extend about four miles from a village near Cædicix,¹⁶⁵ the same village being six miles from Sinuessa. There is now no wine known that ranks higher than the Falernian; it is the only one, too, among all the wines that takes fire on the application of flame.¹⁶⁶ There are three varieties of it—the rough, the sweet, and the thin. Some persons make the following distinctions: the Caucinum, they say, grows on the summit of this range of hills, the Faustianum on the middle slopes, and the Falernum at the foot: the fact, too, should not be omitted, that none of the grapes that produce these more famous wines have by any means an agreeable flavour.

To the third¹⁶⁷ rank belonged the various wines of Alba, in the vicinity of the City, remarkable for their sweetness, and some- times, though rarely, rough¹⁶⁸ as well: the Surrentine¹⁶⁹ wines, also, the growth of only stayed vines, which are especially recommended to invalids for their thinness and their wholesomeness. Tiberius Cæsar used to say that the physicians had conspired thus to dignify the Surrentinum, which was, in fact, only another name for generous vinegar; while Caius Cæsar, who succeeded him, gave it the name of "noble vappa."¹⁷⁰ Vying in reputation with these are the Massic wines, from the spots which look from Mount Gaurus towards Puteoli and Baiæ.¹⁷¹ As to the wines of Stata, in the vicinity of Falernum, there is no doubt that they formerly held the very highest rank, a fact which proves very clearly that every district has its own peculiar epochs, just as all other things have their rise and their decadence. The Calenian¹⁷² wines, too, from the same neighbourhood, used to be preferred to those last mentioned, as also the Fundanian,¹⁷³ the produce of vines grown on stays, or else attached to shrubs. The wines, too, of Veliternum¹⁷⁴ and Priverna,¹⁷⁵ which were grown in the vicinity of the City, used to be highly esteemed. As to that produced at Signia,¹⁷⁶ it is by far too rough to be used as a wine, but is very useful as an astringent, and is consequently reckoned among the medicines for that purpose.

The fourth rank, at the public banquets, was given by the late Emperor Julius-he was the first, in fact, that brought them into favour, as we find stated in his Letters¹⁷⁷—to the Mamertine wines, the produce of the country in the vicinity of Messana,¹⁷⁸ in Sicily. The finest of these was the Potulanum,¹⁷⁹ so called from its original cultivator, and grown on the spots that lie nearest to the mainland of Italy. The Tauromenitanum also, a wine of Sicily, enjoys a high repute, and fiaggons¹⁸⁰ of it are occasionally passed off for Mamertinum.

Among the other wines, we find mentioned upon the Upper Sea those of Prætutia and Ancona, as also those known as the "Palmensia,"¹⁸¹ not improbably because the cluster springs from a single shoot.¹⁸² In the interior we find the wines of Cæsena¹⁸³ and that known as the Mæcenatian,¹⁸⁴ while in the territory of Verona there are the Rhætian wines, only inferior, in the estimation of Virgil, to the Falernian.¹⁸⁵ Then, too, at the bottom of the Gulf¹⁸⁶ we find the wines of Adria.¹⁸⁷ On the shores of the Lower Sea there are the Latiniensian¹⁸⁸ wines, the Graviscan,¹⁸⁹ and the Statonian:¹⁹⁰ in Etruria, the wines of Luna bear away the palm, and those of Genua¹⁹¹ in Liguria. Massilia, which lies between the Pyrenees and the Alps, produces two varieties of wine, one of which is richer and thicker than the other, and is used for seasoning other wines, being generally known as "succosum."¹⁹² The repu- tation of the wine of Beterræ¹⁹³ does not extend beyond the Gallic territories;¹⁹⁴ and as for the others that are produced in Gallia Narbonensis, nothing can be positively stated, for the growers of that country have absolutely established manufactories for the purposes of adulteration, where they give a dark hue to their wines by the agency of smoke; I only wish I could say, too, that they do not employ various herbs and noxious drugs for the same purpose;¹⁹⁵ indeed, these dealers are even known to use aloes for the purpose of heightening the flavour and improving the colour of their wines.

The regions of Italy that are at a greater distance from the Ausonian Sea, are not without their wines of note, such as those of Tarentum,¹⁹⁶ Servitia,¹⁹⁷ and Consentia,¹⁹⁸ and those, again, of Tempsa, Babia, and Lucania, among which the wines of Thurii hold the pre-eminence. But the most celebrated of all of them, owing to the fact that Messala¹⁹⁹ used to drink it, and was indebted to it for his excellent health, was the wine of Lagara,²⁰⁰ which was grown not far from Grumentum.²⁰¹ In Campania, more recently, new growths under new names have gained considerable credit, either owing to careful cultivation, or else to some other fortuitous circumstances: thus, for instance, we find four miles from Neapolis the Trebellian,²⁰² near Capua the Cauline,²⁰³ wine, and the wine of Trebula²⁰⁴ grown in the territory so called, though but of a common sort: Campania boasts of all these, as well as of her Trifoline²⁰⁵ wines. As to the wines of Pompeii,²⁰⁶ they have arrived at their full perfection in ten years, after which they gain nothing by age: they are found also to be productive of headache, which often lasts so long as the sixth hour²⁰⁷ of the next day.

These illustrations, if I am not greatly mistaken, will go far to prove that it is the land and the soil that is of primary importance, and not the grape, and that it is quite superfluous to attempt to enumerate all the varieties of every kind, seeing that the same vine, transplanted to several places, is productive of features and characteristics of quite opposite natures. The vineyards of Laletanum²⁰⁸ in Spain²⁰⁹ are remarkable for the abundance of wine they produce, while those of Tarraco²¹⁰ and of Lauron²¹¹ are esteemed for the choice qualities of their wines: those, too, of the Balearic Isles²¹² are often put in comparison with the very choicest growths of Italy.

I am by no means unaware that most of my readers will be of opinion that I have omitted a vast number of wines, seeing that every one has his own peculiar choice; so much so, that wherever we go, we hear the same story told, to the effect that one of the freedmen of the late Emperor Augustus, who was remarkable for his judgment and his refined taste in wines, while employed in tasting for his master's table, made this observation to the master of the house where the emperor was staying, in reference to some wine the growth of that particular country: "The taste of this wine," said he, "is new to me, and it is by no means of first-rate quality; the emperor, however, you will see, will drink of no other."²¹³ Indeed I have no wish to deny that there may be other wines deserving of a very high reputation, but those which I have already enumerated are the varieties upon the excellence of which the world is at present agreed.

CHAP. 9. (7.)—THIRTY-EIGHT VARIETIES OF FOREIGN WINES.

We will now, in a similar manner, give a description of the varieties found in the parts beyond sea. After the wines mentioned by Homer, and of which we have already spoken,²¹⁴ those held in the highest esteem were the wines of Thasos and Chios,²¹⁵ and of the latter more particularly the sort known as "Arvisium."²¹⁶ By the side of these has been placed the wine of Lesbos,²¹⁷ upon the authority of Erasistratus, a famous physician, who flourished about the year of the City of Rome 450. At the present day, the most esteemed of all is the wine of Clazomenæ,²¹⁸ since they have learned to season it more sparingly with sea-water. The wine of Lesbos has naturally a taste of sea-water. That from Mount Tmolus²¹⁹ is not so much esteemed by itself²²⁰ for its qualities as a wine, as for its peculiar sweetness. It is on account of this that it is mixed with other wines, for the purpose of modifying their harsh flavour, by imparting to them a portion of its own sweetness; while at the same time it gives them age, for immediately after the mixture they appear to be much older than they really are. Next in esteem after these are the wines of Sicyon,²²¹ Cyprus,²²² Telmessus,²²³ Tripolis,²²⁴ Berytus,²²⁵ Tyre,²²⁶ and Sebennys, this last is grown in Egypt, being the produce of three varieties of grape of the very highest quality, known as the Thasian,²²⁷ the æthalus,²²⁸ and the peuce.²²⁹ Next in rank are the hippodamantian²³⁰ wine, the Mystic,²³¹ the cantharite,²³² the protropum²³³ of Cnidos, the wine of the catacecaumene,²³⁴ the Petritan,²³⁵ and the Myconian;²³⁶ as to the Mesogitic,²³⁷ it has been found to give head-ache, while that of Ephesus is far from wholesome, being seasoned with sea-water and defrutum.²³⁸ It is said that the wine of Apamea²³⁹ is remarkably well adapted for making mulsum,²⁴⁰ like that of Præ- tutia in Italy: for this is a quality peculiar to only certain kinds of wine, the mixture of two sweet liquids being in general not attended with good results. The protagion²⁴¹ is quite gone out of date, a wine which the school of Asclepiades has reckoned as next in merit to those of Italy. The physician Apollodorus, in the work which he wrote recommending King Ptolemy what wines in particular to drink—for in his time the wines of Italy were not generally known—has spoken in high terms of that of Naspercene in Pontus, next to which he places the Oretic,²⁴² and then the Æneatian,²⁴³ the Leucadian,²⁴⁴ the Ambraciotic,²⁴⁵ and the Peparethian,²⁴⁶ to which last he gives the preference over all the rest, though he states that it enjoyed an inferior reputation, from the fact of its not being considered fit for drinking until it had been kept six years.

CHAP. 10. (8.)—SEVEN KINDS OF SALTED WINES.

Thus far we have treated of wines, the goodness of which is due to the country of their growth. In Greece the wine that is known by the name of "bion," and which is administered for its curative qualities in several maladies (as we shall have occasion to remark when we come to speak on the subject of Medicine²⁴⁷), has been justly held in the very highest esteem. This wine is made in the following manner: the grapes are plucked before they are quite ripe, and then dried in a hot sun: for three days they are turned three times a day, and on the fourth day they are pressed, after which the juice is put in casks,²⁴⁸ and left to acquire age in the heat of the sun.²⁴⁹

The people of Cos mix sea-water in large quantities with their wines, an invention which they first learned from a slave, who adopted this method of supplying the deficiency that had been caused by his thievish propensities. When this is mixed with white must, the mixture receives the name of "leu- cocoum."²⁵⁰ In other countries again, they follow a similar plan in making a wine called "tethalassomenon."²⁵¹ They make a wine also known as "thalassites,"²⁵² by placing vessels full of must in the sea, a method which quickly imparts to the wine all the qualities of old age.²⁵³ In our own country too, Cato has shown the method of making Italian wine into Coan: in addition to the modes of preparation above stated, he tells us that it must be left exposed four years to the heat of the sun, in order to bring it to maturity. The Rhodian²⁵⁴ wine is similar to that of Cos, and the Phorinean is of a still salter flavour. It is generally thought that all the wines from beyond sea arrive at their middle state of maturity in the course of six²⁵⁵ or seven years.

CHAP. 11. (9.)—EIGHTEEN VARIETEIS OF SWEET WINE. RAISIN-WINE AND HEPSEMA.

All the luscious wines have but little²⁵⁶ aroma: the thinner the wine the more aroma it has. The colours of wines are four, white,²⁵⁷ brown,²⁵⁸ blood-coloured,²⁵⁹ and black.²⁶⁰ Psythium²⁶¹ and melampsythium²⁶² are varieties of raisin-wine which have the peculiar flavour of the grape, and not that of wine. Seybelites²⁶³ is a wine grown in Galatia, and Aluntium²⁶⁴ is a wine of Sicily, both of which have the flavour of mulsum.²⁶⁵ As to siræum, by some known as "hepsema," and which in our language is called "sapa,"²⁶⁶ it is a product of art and not of Nature, being prepared from must boiled down to one-third: when must is boiled down to one-half only, we give it the name of " defrutum." All these mixtures have been devised for the adulteration of honey.²⁶⁷ As to those varieties which we have previously mentioned, their merits depend upon the grape, and the soil in which it is grown. Next after the raisin-wine of Crete,²⁶⁸ those of Cilicia and Africa are held in the highest esteem, both in Italy as well as the adjoining provinces. It is well known that it is made of a grape to which the Greeks have given the name of "stica," and which by us is called "apiana:"²⁶⁹ it is also made of the scirpula.²⁷⁰ The grapes are left on the vine to dry in the sun, or else are boiled in the dolium.²⁷¹ Some persons make this wine of the sweet and early white²⁷² grape: they leave the grapes to dry in the sun, until they have lost pretty nearly half their weight, after which they crush them and subject them to a gentle pressure. They then draw off the juice, and add to the pulp that is left an equal quantity of well-water, the product of which is raisin-wine of second quality.²⁷³ The more careful makers not only do this, but take care also after drying the grapes to remove the stalks, and then steep the raisins in wine of good quality until they swell, after which they press them. This kind of raisin-wine is preferred to all others: with the addition of water, they follow the same plan in making the wine of second quality.

The liquor to which the Greeks give the name of" aigleucos,"²⁷⁴ is of middle quality, between the sirops and what is properly called wine; with us it is called "semper mustum."²⁷⁵ It is only made by using great precaution, and taking care that the must does not ferment;²⁷⁶ such being the state of the must in its transformation into wine. To attain this object, the must is taken from the vat and put into casks, which are immediately plunged into water, and there left to remain until the winter solstice is past, and frosty weather has made its appearance. There is another kind, again, of natural aigleucos, which is known in the province of Narbonensis by the name of "dulce,"²⁷⁷ and more particularly in the district of the Vocontii. In order to make it, they keep the grape hanging on the tree for a considerable time, taking care to twist the stalk. Some, again, make an incision in the bearing shoot, as deep as the pith, while others leave the grapes to dry on tiles. The only grape, however, that is used in these various processes is that of the vine known as the "helvennaca."²⁷⁸

Some persons add to the list of these sweet wines that known as "diachyton."²⁷⁹ It is made by drying grapes in the sun, and then placing them for seven days in a closed place upon hurdles, some seven Feet from the ground, care being taken to protect them at night from the dews: on the eighth day they are trodden out: this method, it is said, produces a liquor of exquisite bouquet and flavour. The liquor known as melitites²⁸⁰ is also one of the sweet wines: it differs from mulsum, in being made of must; to five congii of rough-fla- voured must they put one congius of honey, and one cyathus of salt, and they are then brought to a gentle boil: this mixture is of a rough flavour. Among these varieties, I ought to place what is known as "protropum;"²⁸¹ such being the name given by some to the must that runs spontaneously from the grapes before they are trodden out. Directly it flows it is put into flaggons, and allowed to ferment; after which it is left to ripen for forty days in a summer sun, about the rising of the Dog-star.

CHAP. 12. (10.)—THREE VARIETIES OF SECOND-RATE WINE.

Those cannot properly be termed wines, which by the Greeks are known under the name of "deuteria,"²⁸² and to which, in common with Cato, we in Italy give the name of "lora,"²⁸³ being made from the husks of grapes steeped in water. Still, however, this beverage is reckoned as making one of the "labourers'"²⁸⁴ wines. There are three varieties of it: the first²⁸⁵ is made in the following manner:—After the must is drawn off, one-tenth of its amount in water is added to the husks, which are then left to soak a day and a night, and then are again subjected to pressure. A second kind, that which the Greeks are in the habit of making, is prepared by adding one-third in water of the quantity of must that has been drawn off, and after submitting the pulp to pressure, the result is reduced by boiling to one-third of its original quantity. A third kind, again, is pressed out from the wine-lees; Cato gives it the name of "fæcatum."²⁸⁶ None of these beverages, however, will keep for more than a single year.

CHAP. 13. (11.)—AT WHAT PERIOD GENEROUS WINES WERE FIRST COMMONLY MADE IN ITALY.

While treating of these various details, it occurs to me to mention that of the eighty different kinds throughout the whole earth, which may with propriety be reckoned in the class of generous²⁸⁷ wines, fully two-thirds²⁸⁸ are the produce of Italy, which consequently in this respect far surpasses any other country: and on tracing this subject somewhat higher up, the fact suggests itself, that the wines of Italy have not been in any great favour from an early period, their high repute having only been acquired since the six hundredth year of the City.

CHAP. 14. (12.)—THE INSPECTION OF WINE ORDERED BY KING ROMULUS.

Romulus made libations, not with wine but with milk; a fact which is fully established by the religious rites which owe their foundation to him, and are observed even to the present day. The Posthumian Law, promulgated by King Numa, has an injunction to the following effect:—" Sprinkle not the funeral pyre with wine;" a law to which he gave his sanction, no doubt, in consequence of the remarkable scarcity of that commodity in those days. By the same law, he also pronounced it illegal to make a libation to the gods of wine that was the produce of an unpruned vine, his object being to compel the husbandmen to prune their vines; a duty which they showed themselves reluctant to perform, in consequence of the danger which attended climbing the trees.²⁸⁹ M. Varro informs us, that Mezentius, the king of Etruria, succoured the Rutuli against the Latini, upon condition that he should receive all the wine that was then in the territory of Latium.

(13.) At Rome it was not lawful for women to drink wine. Among the various anecdotes connected with this subject, we find that the wife of Egnatius Mecenius²⁹⁰ was slain by her husband with a stick, because she had drunk some wine from the vat, and that he was absolved from the murder by Romulus. Fabius Pictor, in his Book of Annals, has stated that a certain lady, for having opened a purse in which the keys of the wine-cellar were kept, was starved to death by her family: and Cato tells us, that it was the usage for the male relatives to give the females a kiss, in order to ascertain whether they smelt of "temetum;" for it was by that name that wine was then known, whence our word "temulentia," signifying drunkenness. Cn. Domitius, the judge, once gave it as his opinion, that a certain woman appeared to him to have drunk more wine than was requisite for her health, and without the knowledge of her husband, for which reason he condemned her to lose her dower. For a very long time there was the greatest economy manifested at Rome in the use of this article. L. Papirius,²⁹¹ the general, who, on one occasion, commanded against the Samnites, when about to engage, vowed an offering to Jupiter of a small cupfull of wine, if he should gain the victory. In fact, among the gifts presented to the gods, we find mention made of offerings of sextarii of milk, but never of wine.

The same Cato, while on his voyage to Spain, from which he afterwards returned triumphant,²⁹² would drink of no other wine but that which was served out to the rowers—very different, indeed, to the conduct of those who are in the habit of giving to their guests even inferior wine²⁹³ to that which they drink themselves, or else contrive to substitute inferior in the course of the repast.²⁹⁴

CHAP. 15.—WINES DRUNK BY THE ANCIENT ROMANS.

The wines that were the most esteemed among the ancient Romans were those perfumed with myrrh,²⁹⁵ as mentioned in the play of Plautus, entitled the "Persian,"²⁹⁶ though we find it there stated that calamus²⁹⁷ ought to be added to it. Hence it is, that some persons are of opinion that they were particularly fond of aromatites:²⁹⁸ but Fabius Dossennus quite decides the question, in the following line:—"I sent them good wine, myrrh-wine;"²⁹⁹ and in his play called "Acharistio," we find these words-" Bread and pearled barley, myrrh—wine too." I find, too, that Scævola and L. Ælius, and Ateius Capito, were of the same opinion; and then we read in the play known as the "Pseudolus:"³⁰⁰—" But if it is requisite for him to draw forth what is sweet from the place, has he aught of that?" to which Charinus makes answer," Do you ask the question? He has myrrh wine, raisin wine, defrutum,³⁰¹ and honey;" from which it would appear that myrrh wine was not only reckoned among the wines, but among the sweet wines too.

CHAP. 16. (14.)—SOME REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH WINE-LOFTS. THE OPIMIAN WINE.

The fact of the existence of the Opimian wine gives undoubted proof that there were wine-lofts,³⁰² and that wine was racked off in the year of Rome 633, Italy being already alive to the blessings she enjoyed. Still, however, the several varieties that are now so celebrated were not so in those days; and hence it is that all the wines that were grown at that period have only the one general name of "Opimian" wines, from the then consul Opimius. So, too, for a long time afterwards, and, indeed, so late as the times of our grandfathers, the wines from beyond sea were held in the highest esteem, even though Falernian was already known, a fact which we learn from the line of the Comic writer,³⁰³ "I shall draw five cups of Thasian and two of Falernian."

P. Licinius Crassus, and L. Julius Cæsar, who were Censors in the year from the Building of the City 665, issued an edict forbidding the sale of either Greek or Aminean wine at a higher price than eight asses the quadrantal³⁰⁴—for such, in fact, are the exact words of the edict. Indeed, the Greek wines were so highly valued, that not more than a single cup was served to a guest during the repast.

CHAP. 17.—AT WHAT PERIOD FOUR KINDS OF WINE WERE FIRST SERVED AT TABLE.

M. Varro gives us the following statement as to the wines that were held in the highest esteem at table in his day: "L. Lucullus, when a boy, never saw an entertainment at his father's house, however sumptuous it might be, at which Greek wine was handed round more than once during the repast: whereas he himself, when he returned from Asia, distributed as a largess among the people more than a hundred thousand congiaria³⁰⁵ of the same wine. C. Sentius, whom we have seen Prætor, used to say that Chian wine never entered his house until his physician prescribed it to him for the cardiac³⁰⁶ disease. On the other hand, Hortensius left ten thousand casks of it to his heir." Such is the statement made by Varro.

(15.) And besides, is it not a well-known fact that Cæsar, when Dictator, at the banquet given on the occasion of his triumph, allotted to each table an amphora of Falernian and a cadus of Chian? On the occasion, too, of his triumph for his victories in Spain, he put before the guests both Chian as well as Falernian; and again, at the banquet given on his third consulship,³⁰⁷ he gave Falernian, Chian, Lesbian, and Marmertine; indeed, it is generally agreed that this was the first occasion on which four different kinds of wine were served at table. It was after this, then, that all the other sorts came into such very high repute, somewhere about the year of the City 700.

CHAP. 18. (16.)—THE USES OF THE WILD VINE. WHAT JUICES ARE NATURALLY THE COLDEST OF ALL.

I am not surprised, then, that for these many ages there have been invented almost innumerable varieties of artificial wines, of which I shall now make some mention; they are all of them employed for medicinal purposes. We have already stated in a former Book how omphacium,³⁰⁸ which is used for unguents, is made. The liquor known as "œnanthinum" is made from the wild vine,³⁰⁹ two pounds of the flowers of which are steeped in a cadus of must, and are then changed at the end of thirty days. In addition to this, the root and the husks of the grapes are employed in dressing leather. The grapes, too, a little after the blossom has gone off, are singularly efficacious as a specific for cooling the feverish heat of the body in certain maladies, being, it is said, of a nature remarkable for extreme coldness. A portion of these grapes wither away, in consequence of the heat, before the rest, which are thence called solstitial³¹⁰ grapes; indeed, the whole of them never attain maturity; if one of these grapes, in an unripe state, is given to a barn-door fowl to eat, it is productive of a dislike to grapes for the future.³¹¹

CHAP. 19.—SIXTY-SIX VARIETIES OF ARTIFICIAL WINE.

The first of the artificial wines has wine for its basis; it is called "adynamon,"³¹² and is made in the following manner. Twenty sextarii of white must are boiled down with half that quantity of water, until the amount of the water is lost by evaporation. Some persons mix with the must ten sextarii of sea-water and an equal quantity of rain-water, and leave the whole to evaporate in the sun for forty days. This beverage is given to invalids to whom it is apprehended that wine may prove injurious.

The next kind of artificial wine is that made of the ripe grain of millet;³¹³ a pound and a quarter of it with the straw is steeped in two congii of must, and the mixture is poured off at the end of six months. We have already stated³¹⁴ how various kinds of wine are made from the tree, the shrub, and the herb, respectively known as the lotus.

From fruit, too, the following wines are made, to the list of which we shall only add some necessary explanations:—First of all, we find the fruit of the palm³¹⁵ employed for this pur- pose by the Parthians as well as the Indians, and, indeed. throughout all the countries of the East. A modius of the kind of ripe date called "chydææ"³¹⁶ is added to three congii of water, and after being steeped for some time, they are subjected to pressure. Sycites³¹⁷ is a preparation similarly made from figs: some persons call it "palmiprimum,"³¹⁸ others, again, "catorchites:" if sweetness is not the maker's object, instead of water there is added the same quantity of husk juice³¹⁹ of grapes. Of the Cyprian fig³²⁰ a very excellent vinegar, too, is made, and of that of Alexandria³²¹ a still superior.

A wine is made, too, of the pods of the Syrian carob,³²² of pears, and of all kinds of apples. That known as" rhoites"³²³ is made from pomegranates, and other varieties are prepared from cornels, medlars, sorb apples, dried mulberries, and pinenuts;³²⁴ these last are left to steep in must, and are then pressed; the others produce a sweet liquor of themselves. We shall have occasion before long to show how Cato³²⁵ has pointed out the method of making myrtites:³²⁶ the Greeks, however, adopt a different method in making it. They first boil tender sprigs of myrtle with the leaves on in white must, and after pounding them, boil down one pound of the mixture in three congii of must, until it is reduced to a couple of congii. The beverage that is prepared in this manner with the berries of wild myrtle is known as "myrtidanum;"³²⁷ it will stain the hands.

Among the garden plants we find wines made of the following kinds: the radish, asparagus, cunila, origanum, parsley- seed, abrotonum,³²⁸ wild mint, rue,³²⁹ catmint,³³⁰ wild thyme,³³¹ and horehound.³³² A couple of handfuls of these ingredients are put into a cadus of must, as also one sextarius of sapa,³³³ and half a sextarius of sea-water. A wine is made of the naphew³³⁴ turnip by adding two drachms of naphew to two sextarii of must. A wine is made also from the roots of squills.³³⁵ Among the flowers, that of the rose furnishes a wine: the leaves are put in a linen cloth and then pounded, after which they are thrown into must with a small weight attached to make them sink to the bottom, the proportion being forty drachms of leaves to twenty sextarii of must; the vessel in which it is kept must not be opened before the end of three months. A wine, too, is made of Gallic nard,³³⁶ and another kind of the wild³³⁷ variety of that plant.

I find, also, that various kinds of aromatites³³⁸ are prepared, differing but very little in their mode of composition from that of the unguents, being made in the first instance, as I have already stated,³³⁹ of myrrh, and then at a later period of Celtic nard,³⁴⁰ calamus, and aspalathus,³⁴¹ of which cakes are made, and are then thrown into either must or sweet wine. Others, again, make these wines of calamus, scented rush,³⁴² costus,³⁴³ Syrian nard,³⁴⁴ amomum,³⁴⁵ cassia,³⁴⁶ cinnamon, saffron,³⁴⁷ palm-dates, and foal-foot,³⁴⁸ all of which are made up into cakes in a similar manner. Other persons, again, put half a pound of nard and malobathrum³⁴⁹ to two congii of must; and it is in this manner that at the present day, with the addition of pepper and honey, the wines are made by some known as confection wines,³⁵⁰ and by others as peppered³⁵¹ wines. We find mention made of nectarites also, a beverage extracted from a herb known to some as "helenion,"³⁵² to others as "Medica,"³⁵³ and to others, again, as symphyton,³⁵⁴ Idea, Orestion, or nectaria, the root of which is added in the proportion of forty drachms to six sextarii of must, being first similarly placed in a linen cloth.

As to other kinds of herbs, we find wormwood wine,³⁵⁵ made of Pontic wormwood in the proportion of one pound to forty sextarii of must, which is then boiled down until it is reduced to one third, or else of slips of wormwood put in wine. In a similar manner, hyssop wine³⁵⁶ is made of Cilician hyssop,³⁵⁷ by adding three ounces of it to two congii of must, or else by pounding three ounces of hyssop, and adding them to one congius of must. Both of these wines may be made also in another method, by sowing these plants around the roots of vines. It is in this manner, too, that Cato tells us how to make hellebore³⁵⁸ wine from black hellebore; and a similar method is used for making scammony³⁵⁹ wine. The vine has a remarkable propensity³⁶⁰ of contracting the flavour of any plant that may happen to be growing near it; and hence it is that in the marshy lands of Patavium, the grape has the peculiar flavour of the willow. So, in like manner, we find at Thasos hellebore planted among the vines, or else wild cucumber, or scammony; the wine that is produced from these vines is known by the name of "phthorium," it being productive of abortion.

Wines are made, too, of other herbs, the nature of which will be mentioned in their respective places, the stœchas³⁶¹ for instance, the root of gentian,³⁶² tragoriganum,³⁶³ dittany,³⁶⁴ foal-foot,³⁶⁵ daucus,³⁶⁶ elelisphacus,³⁶⁷ panax,³⁶⁸ acorus,³⁶⁹ conyza,³⁷⁰ thyme,³⁷¹ mandragore,³⁷² and sweet rush.³⁷³ We find the names mentioned, also, of scyzinum,³⁷⁴ itæomelis, and lectisphagites, compounds of which the receipt is now lost.

The wines that are made from the shrubs are mostly extracted from the two kinds of cedar,³⁷⁵ the cypress,³⁷⁶ the laurel,³⁷⁷ the juniper,³⁷⁸ the terebinth,³⁷⁹ and in Gaul the lentisk.³⁸⁰ To make these wines, they boil either the berries or the new wood of the shrub in must. They employ, also, the wood of the dwarf olive,³⁸¹ the ground-pine,³⁸² and the germander³⁸³ for a similar purpose, adding at the same time ten drachms of the flower to a congius of must.

CHAP. 20. (1 7.)—HYDROMELI, OR MELICRATON.

There is a wine also made solely of honey and water.³⁸⁴ For this purpose it is recommended that rain-water³⁸⁵ should be kept for a period of five years. Those who shew greater skill, content themselves with taking the water just after it has fallen, and boiling it down to one third, to which they then add one third in quantity of old honey, and keep the mixture exposed to the rays of a hot sun³⁸⁶ for forty days after the rising of the Dog-star; others, however, rack it off in the course of ten days, and tightly cork the vessels in which it is kept. This beverage is known as "hydromeli," and with age acquires the flavour of wine. It is nowhere more highly esteemed than in Phrygia.³⁸⁷

CHAP. 21.—OXYMELI.

Vinegar³⁸⁸ even has been mixed with honey; nothing, in fact, has been left untried by man. To this mixture the name of oxymeli has been given; it is compounded of ten pounds of honey, five semi-sextarii of old vinegar, one pound of sea-salt, and five sextarii of rain-water. This is boiled gently till the mixture has bubbled in the pot some ten times,³⁸⁹ after which it is drawn off, and kept till it is old;³⁹⁰ all these wines, however, are condemned³⁹¹ by Themison, an author of high authority. And really, by Hercules! the use of them does appear to be somewhat forced,³⁹² unless, indeed, we are ready to maintain that these aromatic wines are so many compounds taught us by Nature, as well as those that are manufactured of perfumes, or that shrubs and plants have been generated only for the purpose of being swallowed in drink. However, all these particulars, when known, are curious and interesting, and show how successfully the human intellect has pried into every secret.

None of these wines, however, will keep beyond a year,³⁹³ with the sole exception of those which we have spoken of as requiring age; many of these, indeed, there can be no doubt, do not improve after being kept so little as thirty days.

CHAP. 22. (18.)—TWELVE KINDS OF WINE WITH MIRACULOUS PROPERTIES.

There are some miraculous properties, too, in certain wines. It is said that in Arcadia there is a wine grown which is productive of fruitfulness³⁹⁴ in women, and of madness in men; while in Achaia, and more especially in the vicinity of Carynia, there is a wine which causes abortion; an effect which is equally produced if a woman in a state of pregnancy happens only to eat a grape of the vine from which it is grown, although in taste it is in no way different from ordinary grapes: again, it is confidently asserted that those who drink the wine of Trœzen never bear children. Thasos, it is said, produces two varieties of wine with quite opposite properties. By one kind sleep is produced,³⁹⁵ by the other it is prevented. There is also in the same island a vine known as the "theriaca,"³⁹⁶ the wine and grapes of which are a cure for the bites of serpents. The libanian vine³⁹⁷ also produces a wine with the smell of frankincense, with which they make libations to the gods, while, on the other hand, the produce of that known as "aspendios,"³⁹⁸ is banished from all the altars: it is said, too, that this last vine is never touched by any bird.

The Egyptians call by the name of "Thasian,"³⁹⁹ a certain grape of that country, remarkable for its sweetness and its laxative qualities. On the other hand, there is in Lycia a certain grape which proves astringent to the stomach when relaxed. Egypt has a wine, too, known as "ecbolas,"⁴⁰⁰ which is productive of abortion. There are some wines, which at the rising of the Dog-star change their nature in the wine-lofts⁴⁰¹ where they are kept, and afterwards recover⁴⁰² their original quality. The same is the case, too, with wines when carried across the seas: those that are able to withstand the motion of the waves, appear afterwards to be twice as old⁴⁰³ as they really are.

CHAP. 23. (19.)—WHAT WINES IT IS NOT LAWFUL TO USE IN THE SACRED RITES.

As religion is the great basis of the ordinary usages of life, I shall here remark that it is considered improper to offer libations to the gods with any wines which are the produce of an unpruned vine, or of one that has been struck by lightning or near to which a dead man has been hung, or of grapes that have been trodden out by sore Feet, or made of must from husks that have been cut,⁴⁰⁴ or from grapes that have been polluted by the fall of any unclean thing upon them. The Greek wines are excluded also from the sacred ministrations, because they contain a portion of water.

The vine itself is sometimes eaten; the tops of the shoots⁴⁰⁵ are taken off and boiled, and are then pickled in vinegar⁴⁰⁶ and brine.

CHAP. 24.—How MUST IS USUALLY PREPARED.

It will be as well now to make some mention of the methods used in preparing wines; indeed, several of the Greeks have written separate treatises on this subject, and have made a complete art of it, such, for instance, as Euphronius, Aristomachus, Commiades, and Hicesius. The people of Africa are in the habit of neutralizing such acidity⁴⁰⁷ as may be found with gypsum, and in some parts with lime. The people of Greece, on the other hand, impart briskness to their wines when too flat, with potters' earth, pounded marble, salt, or sea-water; while in Italy, again, brown pitch is used for that purpose in some parts, and it is the universal practice both there as well as in the adjoining provinces to season their new wines with resin: sometimes, too, they season them with old wine-lees or vinegar⁴⁰⁸ They make various medicaments, also, for this purpose with the must itself. They boil it down till it becomes quite sweet, and has lost a considerable portion of its strength; though thus prepared, they say it will never last beyond a single year. In some places they boil down the must till it becomes sapa,⁴⁰⁹ and then mix it with their wines for the purpose of modifying their harshness. Both for these kinds of wines, as, indeed, all others, they always employ vessels which have themselves received an inner coat of pitch; the method of preparing them will be set forth in a succeeding Book.⁴¹⁰

CHAP. 25. (20.)—PITH AND RESIN.

Of the trees from which pitch and resin distil, there are some which grow in the East, and others in Europe: the province of Asia,⁴¹¹ which lies between the two, has also some of both kinds. In the East, the very best commodity of this kind, and of the finest quality, is that produced by the terebinth,⁴¹² and, next to it, that from the lentisk,⁴¹³ which is also known as the mastich. The next in quality to these is the juice of the cypress,⁴¹⁴ being of a more acrid flavour than any other. All the above juices are liquid and of a resinous nature only, but that of the cedar⁴¹⁵ is comparatively thick, and of a proper consistency for making pitch. The Arabian resin⁴¹⁶ is of a pale colour, has an acrid smell, and its fumes are stifling to those employed in boiling it. That of Judæa is of a harder nature, and has a stronger smell than that from the terebinth⁴¹⁷ even. The Syrian⁴¹⁸ resin has all the appearance of Attic honey, but that of Cyprus is superior to any other; it is the colour of honey, and is of a soft, fleshy nature. The resin of Colophon⁴¹⁹ is yellower than the other varieties, but when pounded it turns white; it has a stifling smell, for which reason the perfumers do not employ it. That prepared in Asia from the produce of the pitch-tree is very white, and is known by the name of "spagas."

All the resins are soluble in oil;⁴²⁰ some persons are of opinion also that potters' chalk may be so dissolved:⁴²¹ I feel ashamed⁴²² to avow that the principal esteem in which the resins are held among us is as depilatories for taking the hair off men's bodies.

The method used for seasoning wines is to sprinkle pitch in the must during the first fermentation, which never lasts beyond nine days at the most, so that a bouquet is imparted to the wine,⁴²³ with, in some degree, its own peculiar piquancy of flavour. It is generally considered, that this is done most effectually by the use of raw flower⁴²⁴ of resin, which imparts a considerable degree of briskness to wine: while, on the other hand, it is thought that crapula⁴²⁵ itself, if mixed, tends to mitigate the harshness of the wine and subdue its asperity, and when the wine is thin and flat, to give it additional strength and body. It is in Liguria more particularly, and the districts in the vicinity of the Padus, that the utility is recognized of mixing crapula with the must, in doing which the following rule is adopted: with wines of a strong and generous nature they mix a larger quantity, while with those that are poor and thin they use it more sparingly. There are some who would have the wine seasoned with both crapula and flower of resin at the same time.⁴²⁶ Pitch too, when used for this purpose, has much the same properties as must when so employed.

In some places, the must is subject to a spontaneous fermentation a second time: when this unfortunately happens it loses all its flavour, and then receives the name of "vappa,"⁴²⁷ a word which is applied as an opprobrious appellation even to worthless men of degenerate spirit: in vinegar, on the other hand, notwithstanding its tart and acrid taste, there are very considerable virtues, and without it we should miss many of the comforts⁴²⁸ of civilized life.

In addition to what we have already stated, the treatment and preparation of wines are the object of such remarkable attention, that we find some persons employing ashes, and others gypsum and other substances of which we have already⁴²⁹ spoken, for the purpose of improving its condition: the ashes,⁴³⁰ however, of the shoots of vines or of the wood of the quercus, are in general preferred for this purpose. It is recommended also, to take sea-water far out at sea, and to keep it in reserve,⁴³¹ to be employed for this purpose: at all events, it ought to be taken up in the night and during the summer solstice, while the north-east wind is blowing; but if taken at the time of the vintage, it should be boiled before being used.

The pitch most highly esteemed in Italy for preparing vessels for storing wine, is that which comes from Bruttium. It is made from the resin that distils from the pitch-tree; that which is used in Spain is held in but little esteem, being the produce of the wild pine; it is bitter, dry, and of a disagreeable smell. While speaking of the wild trees in a succeeding Book,⁴³² we shall make mention of the different varieties of pitch, and the methods used in preparing it. The defects in resin, besides those which⁴³³ we have already mentioned, are a certain degree of acridity, or a peculiar smoky flavour, while the great fault in pitch is the being over-burnt. The ordinary test of its goodness is a certain luminous appearance when broken to pieces; it ought to stick, too, to the teeth, with a pleasant, tart flavour.

In Asia, the pitch which is most esteemed is that of Mount Ida, in Greece of Pieria; but Virgil⁴³⁴ gives the preference to the Narycian⁴³⁵ pitch. The more careful makers mix with the wine black mastich, which comes from Pontus,⁴³⁶ and resembles bitumen in appearance, as also iris⁴³⁷-root and oil. As to coating the vessels with wax, it has been found that the wine is apt to turn acid:⁴³⁸ it is a better plan to put wine in vessels that have held vinegar, than in those which have previously contained sweet wine or mulsum. Cato⁴³⁹ recommends that wines should be got up—concinnari is his word—by putting of lie-ashes boiled down with defrutum, one-fortieth part to the culeus, or else a pound and a half of salt, with pounded marble as well: he makes mention of sulphur also, but only gives the very last place to resin. When the fermentation of the wine is coming to an end, he recommends the addition of the must to which he gives the name of "tortivum,"⁴⁴⁰ meaning that which is pressed out the very last of all. For the purpose of colouring wine we also add certain substances as a sort of pigment, and these have a tendency to give it a body as well. By such poisonous sophistications is this beverage compelled to suit our tastes, and then we are surprised that it is inju- rious in its effects!

It is a proof that wine is beginning to turn bad, if a plate of lead, on being put in it, changes its colour.⁴⁴¹

CHAP. 26.—VINEGAR-LEES OF WINE.

It is a peculiarity of wine, among the liquids, to become mouldy, or else to turn to vinegar. There are whole volumes which treat of the various methods of preventing this.

The lees of wine when dried will take fire and burn without the addition of fuel: the ashes so produced have very much the nature of nitre,⁴⁴² and similar virtues; the more so, indeed, the more unctuous they are to the touch.

CHAP. 27. (21.)—WINE-VESSELS—WINE-CELLARS.

The various methods of keeping and storing wines in the cellar are very different. In the vicinity of the Alps, they put their wines in wooden vessels hooped around;⁴⁴³ during their cold winters, they even keep lighted fires, to protect the wines from the effects of the cold. It is a singular thing to mention, but still it has been occasionally seen, that these vessels have burst asunder, and there has stood the wine in frozen masses; a miracle almost, as it is not ordinarily the nature of wine to freeze, cold having only the effect of benumbing it. In more temperate climates, they place their wines in dolia,⁴⁴⁴ which they bury in the earth, either covering them entirely or in part, according to the temperature. Sometimes, again, they expose their wines in the open air, while at others they are placed beneath sheds for protection from the atmosphere.

The following are among the rules given for the proper management of wines:—One side of the wine-cellar, or, at all events, the windows, ought to face the north-east, or at least due east. All dunghills and roots of trees, and everything of a repulsive smell, ought to be kept at as great a distance as possible, wine being very apt to contract an odour. Fig-trees too, either wild or cultivated, ought not to be planted in the vicinity. Intervals should also be left between the vessels, in order to prevent infection, in case of any of them turning bad, wine being remarkably apt to become tainted. The shape, too, of the vessels is of considerable importance: those that are broad and bellying⁴⁴⁵ are not so good.⁴⁴⁶ We find it recommended too, to pitch them immediately after the rising of the Dog-star, and then to wash them either with sea or salt water, after which they should be sprinkled with the ashes of tree-shoots or else with potters' earth; they ought then to be cleaned out, and perfumed with myrrh, a thing which ought to be frequently done to the wine-cellars as well. Weak, thin wines should be kept⁴⁴⁷ in dolia sunk in the ground, while those in which the stronger ones are kept should be more exposed to the air. The vessels ought on no account to be entirely filled, room being left for seasoning, by mixing either raisin wine or else defrutum flavoured with saffron; old pitch and sapa are sometimes used for the same purpose. The lids, too, of the dolia ought to be seasoned in a similar manner, with the addition of mastich and Bruttian pitch.

It is strongly recommended never to open the vessels, except in fine weather; nor yet while a south wind is blowing, or at a full moon.

The flower⁴⁴⁸ of wine when white is looked upon as a good sign; but when it is red, it is bad, unless that should happen to be the colour of the wine. The vessels, too, should not be hot to the touch, nor should the covers throw out a sort of sweat. When wine very soon flowers on the surface and emits an odour, it is a sign that it will not keep.

As to defrutum and sapa, it is recommended to commence boiling them when there is no moon to be seen, or, in other words, at the conjunction of that planet, and at no other time. Leaden⁴⁴⁹ vessels should be used for this purpose, and not copper⁴⁵⁰ ones, and walnuts are generally thrown into them, from a notion that they absorb⁴⁵¹ the smoke. In Campania they expose the very finest wines in casks in the open air, it being the opinion that it tends to improve the wine if it is exposed to the action of the sun and moon, the rain and the winds.

CHAP. 28. (22.)—DRUNKENNESS.

If any one will take the trouble duly to consider the matter, he will find that upon no one subject is the industry of man kept more constantly on the alert than upon the making of wine; as if Nature had not given us water as a beverage, the one, in fact, of which all other animals make use. We, on the other hand, even go so far as to make our very beasts of burden drink⁴⁵² wine: so vast are our efforts, so vast our labours, and so boundless the cost which we thus lavish upon a liquid which deprives man of his reason and drives him to frenzy and to the commission of a thousand crimes! So great, however, are its attractions, that a great part of mankind are of opinion that there is nothing else in life worth living for. Nay, what is even more than this, that we may be enabled to swallow all the more, we have adopted the plan of diminishing its strength by pressing it through⁴⁵³ filters of cloth, and have devised numerous inventions whereby to create an artificial thirst. To promote drinking, we find that even poisonous mixtures have been invented, and some men are known to take a dose of hemlock before they begin to drink, that they may have the fear of death before them to make them take their wine:⁴⁵⁴ others, again, take powdered pumice⁴⁵⁵ for the same purpose, and various other mixtures, which I should Feel quite ashamed any further to enlarge upon.

We see the more prudent among those who are given to this habit have themselves parboiled in hot-baths, from whence they are carried away half dead. Others there are, again, who cannot wait till they have got to the banqueting couch,⁴⁵⁶ no, not so much as till they have got their shirt on,⁴⁵⁷ but all naked and panting as they are, the instant they leave the bath they seize hold of large vessels filled with wine, to show of, as it were, their mighty powers, and so gulp down the whole of the contents only to vomit them up again the very next moment. This they will repeat, too, a second and even a third time, just as though they had only been begotten for the purpose of wasting wine, and as if that liquor could not be thrown away without having first passed through the human body. It is to encourage habits such as these that we have introduced the athletic exercises⁴⁵⁸ of other countries, such as rolling in the mud, for instance, and throwing the arms back to show off a brawny neck and chest. Of all these exercises, thirst, it is said, is the chief and primary object.

And then, too, what vessels are employed for holding wine! carved all over with the representations of adulterous intrigues, as if, in fact, drunkenness itself was not sufficiently capable of teaching us lessons of lustfulness. Thus we see wines quaffed out of impurities, and inebriety invited even by the hope of a reward,—invited, did I say?—may the gods forgive me for saying so, purchased outright. We find one person induced to drink upon the condition that he shall have as much to eat as he has previously drunk, while another has to quaff as many cups as he has thrown points on the dice. Then it is that the roving, insatiate eyes are setting a price upon the matron's chastity; and yet, heavy as they are with wine, they do not fail to betray their designs to her husband. Then it is that all the secrets of the mind are revealed; one man is heard to disclose the provisions of his will, another lets fall some expression of fatal import, and so fails to keep to himself words which will be sure to come home to him with a cut throat. And how many a man has met his death in this fashion! Indeed, it has become quite a common proverb, that "in wine⁴⁵⁹ there is truth."

Should he, however, fortunately escape all these dangers, the drunkard never beholds the rising sun, by which his life of drinking is made all the shorter. From wine, too, comes that pallid hue,⁴⁶⁰ those drooping eyelids, those sore eyes, those tremulous hands, unable to hold with steadiness the overflowing vessel, condign punishment in the shape of sleep agitated by Furies during the restless night, and, the supreme reward of inebriety, those dreams of monstrous lustfulness and of forbidden delights. Then on the next day there is the breath reeking of the wine-cask, and a nearly total obliviousness of everything, from the annihilation of the powers of the memory. And this, too, is what they call "seizing the moments of life!⁴⁶¹ whereas, in reality, while other men lose the day that has gone before, the drinker has already lost the one that is to come.

They first began, in the reign of Tiberius Claudius, some forty years ago, to drink fasting, and to take whets of wine before meals; an outlandish⁴⁶² fashion, however, and only patronized by physicians who wished to recommend themselves by the introduction of some novelty or other.

It is in the exercise of their drinking powers that the Parthians look for their share of fame, and it was in this that Alcibiades among the Greeks earned his great repute. Among ourselves, too, Novellius Torquatus of Mediolanum, a man who held all the honours of the state from the prefecture to the pro-consulate, could drink off three congii⁴⁶³ at a single draught, a feat from which he obtained the surname of "Tricongius:" this he did before the eyes of the Emperor Tiberius, and to his extreme surprise and astonishment, a man who in his old age was very morose,⁴⁶⁴ and indeed very cruel in general; though in his younger days he himself had been too much addicted to wine. Indeed it was owing to that recommendation that it was generally thought that L. Piso was selected by him to have the charge and custody⁴⁶⁵ of the City of Rome; he having kept up a drinking-bout at the residence of Tiberius, just after he had become emperor, two days and two nights without intermission. In no point, too, was it generally said that Drusus Cæsar took after his father Tiberius more than this.⁴⁶⁶ Torquatus had the rather uncommon glory—for this science, too, is regulated by peculiar laws of its own—of never being known to stammer in his speech, or to relieve the stomach by vomiting or urine, while engaged in drinking. lie was always on duty at the morning guard, was able to empty the largest vessel at a single draught, and yet to take more ordinary cups in addition than any one else; he was always to be implicitly depended upon, too, for being able to drink without taking breath and without ever spitting, or so much as leaving enough at the bottom of the cup to make a plash upon the pavement;⁴⁶⁷ thus showing himself an exact observer of the regulations which have been made to prevent all shirking on the part of drinkers.

Tergilla reproaches Cicero, the son of Marcus Cicero, with being in the habit of taking off a couple of congii at a single draught, and with having thrown a cup, when in a state of drunkenness, at M. Agrippa;⁴⁶⁸ such, in fact, being the ordinary results of intoxication. But it is not to be wondered at that Cicero was desirous in this respect to eclipse the fame of M. Antonius, the murderer of his father; a man who had, before the time of the younger Cicero, shown himself so extremely anxious to maintain the superiority in this kind of qualifica- tion, that he had even gone so far as to publish a book upon the subject of his own drunkenness.⁴⁶⁹ Daring in this work to speak in his own defence, he has proved very satisfactorily, to lay thinking, how many were the evils he had inflicted upon the world through this same vice of drunkenness. It was but a short time before the battle of Actium that he vomited forth this book of his, from which we have no great difficulty in coming to the conclusion, that drunk as lie already was with the blood of his fellow-citizens, the only result was that he thirsted for it all the more. For, in fact, such is the infallible characteristic of drunkenness, the more a person is in the habit of drinking, the more eager he is for drink; and the remark of the Scythian ambassador is as true as it is well known—the more the Parthians drank, the thirstier they were for it.

CHAP. 29.—LIQUORS WITH THE STRENGTH OF WINE MADE FROM WATER AND CORN.

The people of the Western world have also their intoxicating drinks, made from corn steeped in water.⁴⁷⁰ These beverages are prepared in different ways throughout Gaul and the provinces of Spain; under different names, too, though in their results they are the same. The Spanish provinces have even taught us the fact that these liquors are capable of being kept till they have attained a considerable age. Egypt,⁴⁷¹ too, has invented for its use a very similar beverage made from corn; indeed, in no part of the world is drunkenness ever at a loss. And then, besides, they take these drinks unmixed, and do not dilute them with water, the way that wine is modified; and yet, by Hercules! one really might have supposed that there the earth produced nothing but corn for the people's use. Alas! what wondrous skill, and yet how misplaced! means have absolutely been discovered for getting drunk upon water even.

There are two liquids that are peculiarly grateful to the human body, wine within and oil without; both of them the produce of trees, and most excellent in their respective kinds. Oil, indeed, we may pronounce an absolute necessary, nor has mankind been slow to employ all the arts of invention in the manufacture of it. How much more ingenious, however, man has shown himself in devising various kinds of drink will be evident from the fact, that there are no less than one hundred and ninety-five different kinds of it; indeed, if all the varieties are reckoned, they will amount to nearly double that number. The various kinds of oil are much less numerous—we shall proceed to give an account of them in the following Book.

SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, five hundred and ten.

ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Cornelius Valerianus,⁴⁷² Virgil,⁴⁷³ Celsus,⁴⁷⁴ Cato the Censor,⁴⁷⁵ Saserna,⁴⁷⁶ father and son, Scrofa,⁴⁷⁷ M. Varro,⁴⁷⁸ D. Silanus,⁴⁷⁹ Fabius Pictor,⁴⁸⁰ Trogus,⁴⁸¹ Hyginus,⁴⁸² Flaccus Verrius,⁴⁸³ Græcinus,⁴⁸⁴ Julius Atticus,⁴⁸⁵ Columella,⁴⁸⁶ Massurius Sabinus,⁴⁸⁷ Fenestella,⁴⁸⁸ Tergilla,⁴⁸⁹ Maccius Plautus,⁴⁹⁰ Flavius,⁴⁹¹ Dossennus,⁴⁹² Scævola,⁴⁹³ Ælius,⁴⁹⁴ Ateius Capito,⁴⁹⁵ cotta Messalinus, L. Piso,⁴⁹⁶ Pompeius Lenæus,⁴⁹⁷ Fabianus,⁴⁹⁸ Sextius Niger,⁴⁹⁹ Vibius Rufus.⁵⁰⁰

FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Hesiod,⁵⁰¹ Theophrastus,⁵⁰² Aristotle,⁵⁰³ Democritus,⁵⁰⁴ King Hiero,⁵⁰⁵ King Attalus Philometor,⁵⁰⁶ Archytas,⁵⁰⁷ Xenophon,⁵⁰⁸ Amphilochus⁵⁰⁹ of Athens, Anaxipolis⁵¹⁰ of Thasos, Apollodorus⁵¹¹ of Lemnos, Aristophanes⁵¹² of Miletus, Antigonus⁵¹³ of Cymæ, Agathocles⁵¹⁴ of Chios, Apollonius⁵¹⁵ of Pergamus, Aristander⁵¹⁶ of Athens, Botrys⁵¹⁷ of Athens, Bacchius⁵¹⁸ of Miletus, Bion⁵¹⁹ of Soli, Chærea⁵²⁰ of Athens, Chæristus⁵²¹ of Athens, Diodorus⁵²² of Priene, Dion⁵²³ of Colophon, Epigenes⁵²⁴ of Rhodes, Euagon⁵²⁵ of Thasos, Euphronius⁵²⁶ of Athens, Androtion⁵²⁷ who wrote on agriculture, Æschrion⁵²⁸ who wrote on agriculture, Lysimachus⁵²⁹ who wrote on agriculture, Dionysius⁵³⁰ who translated Mago, Diophanes⁵³¹ who made an Epitome of the work of Dionysius, Asclepiades⁵³² the Physician. Onesicritus,⁵³³ King Juba.⁵³⁴ ⁵³⁵

1 This must be understood with considerable modification—many of the tropical trees and plants have been naturalized, and those of America more particularly, in Europe.

2 He is probably wrong in looking upon the vine as indigenous to Italy. It was known in very early times in Egypt and Greece, and it is now generally considered that it is indigenous throughout the tract that stretches to the south, from the the mountains of Mazandiran on the Caspian to the shores of the Persian Gulf and the Indian Sea, and eastward through Khorassan and Cabul to the base of the Himalayas.

3 The art of printing, Fée remarks, utterly precludes the recurrence of such a fact as this.

4 In allusion to his poem, the "Works and Days," the prototype of Virgil's Georgics.

5 He alludes to the legacy-hunters with which Rome abounded in his time. They are spoken of by Seneca, Tacitus, and Juvenal, in terms of severe reprobation.

6 This seems to be the meaning of "captatio;" much like what we call "toadying," or "toad-eating."

7 The "liberales artes," were those, the pursuit of which was not considered derogatory to the dignity of a free man.

8 Vita ipsa desiit.

9 Humilitas.

10 In the Georgics.

11 Theophrastus reckons it among the trees; Columella, B. ii., considers it to occupy a middle position between a tree and a shrub. Horace, B. i. Ode 18, calls it a tree, "arbor.'

12 Or "layers," "propagines."

13 Nubunt, properly "marry." This is still done in Naples, and other parts of Italy, The use of vine stays there are unknown.

14 "Mustum." Pure, unfermented juice of the grape.

15 See B. vii. c. 24.

16 Italia Transpadana.

17 See B. xxiv. c. 112. The Bauhins are of opinion that this is the Acer opulus of Willdenow, common in Italy, and very branchy.

18 "Tabulata in orbem patula." He probably alludes to the branches extending horizontally from the trunk.

19 "In palmam ejus."

20 There is no doubt that the whole of this passage is in a most corrupt state, and we can only guess at its meaning. Sillig suggests a new reading, which, unsupported as it is by any of the MSS., can only be regarded as fanciful, and perhaps as a very slight improvement on the attempts to obtain a solution of the difficulty. Pliny's main object seems to be to contrast the vines that entwine round poles and rise perpendi- cularly with those that creep horizontally.

21 By throwing out fresh shoots every here and there. Fée , however, seems to think that he means that the grapes themselves, as they trail along the ground, suck up the juices with their pores. These are known in France as "running vines," and are found in Berry and Anjou.

22 He must evidently be speaking of the size of the bunches. See the account of the grapes of Canaan, in Numbers xiii. 24.

23 "Durus acinus," or, according to some readings, "duracinus."

24 From the Greek βουμαστὸς, a cow's teat, mentioned by Virgil, Georg. ii. 102.

25 Or finger-grape.

26 From the Greek λεπτορᾶγες, "small-berried."

27 Pensili concamaratæ nodo.

28 We have no corresponding word for the Latin "dolium." It was an oblong earthen vessel, used for much the same purpose as our vats; new wine was generally placed in it. In times later than that of Pliny the dolia were made of wood.

29 Hardouin speaks of these grapes as still growing in his time in the Valtelline, and remarkable for their excellence.

30 "A patientia." Because they have suffered from the action of the heat.

31 From the thinness of the skin.

32 See c. 24, also B. xxiii. c. 24.

33 See B. iii. c. 5, and B. xxxiii. c. 24.

34 He died in the year B.C. 19.

35 A vine sapling was the chief mark of the centurion's authority.

36 The reading "elatas," has been adopted. If "lentas" is retained, it may mean, "promotion, slow though it be," for the word "aquila" was often used to denote the rank of the "primipilus," who had the charge of the eagle of the legion.

37 Because it was the privilege solely of those soldiers who were Roman citizens to be beaten with the vine sapling.

38 He alludes to the "vinea" used in besieging towns; the first notion of which was derived from the leafy roof afforded by the vines when creeping on the trellis over-head. It was a moveable machine, affording a roof under which the besiegers protected themselves against darts, stones, fire, and other missiles. Raw hides or wet cloths constituted the uppermost layer.

39 See B. xxiii. c. 19.

40 Many years ago, there were in the gardens of the Luxembourg one thousand four hundred varieties of the French grape, and even then there were many not to be found there; while, at the same time, it was considered that the French kinds did not form more than one-twentieth part of the species known in Europe.

41 This vine was said to be of Grecian origin, and to have been con- veyed by a Thessalian tribe to Italy, where it was grown at Aminea, a village in the Falernian district of Campania. It is supposed to have been the same as the gros plant of the French. The varieties mentioned by Pliny seem not to have been recognized by the moderns.

42 Fée does not give credit to this statement.

43 In allusion to the cotton-tree, or else the mulberry leaves covered with the cocoons of the silkworm. See B. vi. c. 20, and B. xii. c. 21. Virgil, in the Georgics, has the well-known line: "Velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres."

44 See B. iii. c. 9. There are many vines, the wood of which is red, but this species has not been identified.

45 From "apis," a "bee." He alludes, it is thought, to the muscatel grape, said to have had its name from "musca," a "fly;" an insect which is greatly attracted by its sweetness.

46 Græcula.

47 Fée is inclined to think that he alludes to the vine of Corinth, the dried fruit of which are the currants of commerce.

48 From the Greek ἐυγένεια,

49 Now Taormina, in Sicily, where, Fée says, it is still to be found. The grapes are red, similar to those of Mascoli near Etna, and much esteemed.

50 Picata. Seep. 221.

51 I. e., pale straw colour.

52 It has been supposed that this vine received its name from "fæx;" the wine depositing an unusually large quantity of lees.

53 It is doubtful whether this vine had its name from being grown in the district now called Bourges, or that of Bourdeaux. Dalechamps identifies it with the plant d' Orleans.

54 The origin of its name is unknown. The text is evidently defective.

55 By this name it would be understood that they were of an intermediate colour between rose and white, a not uncommon colour in the grape. Pliny, however, says otherwise, and he is supported by Columella.

56 C. Bauhin took this to mean one of the garden currant trees, the Ribes uva crispa of Linnæus, called by Bauhin Grossularia simplici acino, or else Spinosa agrestis. But, as Fée observes, the ancients were not so ignorant as to confound a vine with a currant-bush.

57 Like the Portuguese grapes of the present day.

58 Crisped and indented.

59 This variety, according to Christian de la Vega, was cultivated abundantly in Grenada he word cocolab, according to some, meant cock's comb. It is mentioned as a Spanish word by Columella.

60 Dalechamps says, that a similar wine was made at Montpellier, and that it was called "piquardant."

61 See B. xxiii. cc. 20, 21.

62 Probably from "albus," "white." Poinsinct thinks that it may have been so called from the Celtic word alb, or alp, a mountain, and that it grew on elevated spots. This, however, is probably fanciful.

63 Called by the Greeks ἀμέθυστον, from its comparatively harmless qualities.

64 Or "sober" vine.

65 Hardouin says that in his time it was still cultivated about Macerata, in the Roman States. Fée thinks that it may be one of the climbing vines, supported by forks, cultivated in the central provinces of France. See also B. xxiii. c. 19, as to the effects produced by its wine.

66 Poinsinet gives a Celto-Scythian origin to this word, and says that it means "injured by fogs." This appears to be supported in some measure by what is stated below.

67 See B. xvii. c. 37.

68 Or "thorny" vine. Fée queries why it should be thus called.

69 This humid, marshy locality was noted for the badness of its grapes, and consequently of its wine.

70 Hardouin thinks that this is the "Marze mina" of the Venetians: whence, perhaps, its ancient name.

71 "Testis." See B. xxxv. c. 46.

72 From Murgentum, in Sicily. See B. iii. c. 14.

73 From Pompeii, afterwards destroyed. See B. iii c. 9.

74 Hardouin, as Fée thinks, without good reason, identifies this with the "Arelaca" of Columella.

75 Georgics, ii. 99.

76 This seems to be the meaning of "ultro solum lætius facit." These two lines have been introduced by Sillig, from one of the MSS., for the first time.

77 Hardouin thinks that it is so called from Tuder, a town of Etruria. See B. iii. c. 19.

78 Sillig suggests that the reading here is corrupt, and that Pliny means to say that the vine called Florentia is particularly excellent, and merely to state that the talpona, &c., are peculiar to Arretium: for, as he says, speaking directly afterwards in disparagement of them, it is not likely he would pronounce them "opima," of "first-rate quality."

79 From "talpa," a "mole," in consequence of its black colour.

80 "Album."

81 Probably so called from the Etesian winds, which improved its growth.

82 Perhaps meaning "double-seeded." We may here remark, that the wines of Tuscany, though held in little esteem in ancient times, are highly esteemed at the present day.

83 The leaves of most varieties turn red just before the fall.

84 And Baccius thinks that this is the kind from which the raisins of the sun, common in Italy, and more particularly in the Valley of Bevagna, the Mevania of Pliny, are made.

85 Perhaps from "pumilio," a dwarf.

86 The "royal" vine, according to Poinsinet, who would derive it from the Sclavonic "ban."

87 Previously mentioned, p. 228.

88 Baccius says that the wine of this grape was thin like water, and that the vine was trained on lofty trees, a mode of cultivation still followed in the vicinity of Rome. Laurentum was situate within a short distance of it, near Ostia.

89 See B. iii. c. 9.

90 So called from the smoky or intermediate colour of its grapes. Fee suggests that this may be the slow-ripening grape of France, called the "verjus," or "rognon de coq."

91 Possibly meaning the "mouthful."

92 Perhaps so called from Prusa in Bithynia, a district which bore ex- cellent grapes.

93 Or the "turning" grape. A fabulous story no doubt, originating in the name, probably. Fée suggests that it may have originated in the not uncommon practice of letting the bunches hang after they were ripe, and then twisting them, which was thought to increase the juice.

94 The residence of Horace, now Tivoli.

95 In the modern Marches of Ancona.

96 Georgics, ii. 91, et seq. Sunt Thasiæ vites, sunt et Mareotides albsæ:
Et passo Psithia utilior, tenuisque Lageos,
Tentatura pedes olim, vincturaque linguam,
Purpureæ, Preciæque——

97 A muscatel, Fée thinks.

98 Or "hard-berried." Fée thinks that the maroquin, or Morocco grape, called the "pied de poule" (or fowl's foot), at Montpellier, may be the duracinus.

99 Or "upright vine." In Anjou and Herault the vines are of similar character.

100 The "finger-like" vine.

101 The "pigeon" vine.

102 Though very fruitful, it does not bear in large clusters (racemi), but only in small bunches (uvæ).

103 The "three-foot" vine.

104 Perhaps meaning the "rush" grape, from its shrivelled appearance.

105 See c. 3 of this Book.

106 The ordinary number of pips or stones is five. It is seldom that we find but one. Virgil mentions this grape, Georg. ii. 95.

107 "Chium." This reading is doubtful. Fée says that between Narni and Terni, eight leagues from Spoleto, a small grape is found, without stones. It is called "uva passa," or "passerina." So, too, the Sultana raisin of commerce.

108 "Grown for the table."

109 Or "hard-berry."

110 Mentioned by Virgil, Georg. ii. 101.

111 Or pitch-grape.

112 Perhaps the "noirant," or "teinturier" of the French.

113 Or "garland-clustered" vine.

114 Fée says that this is sometimes accidentally the case, but is not the characteristic of any variety now known.

115 Or "market-grapes."

116 The "ash-coloured."

117 The "russet-coloured."

118 Probably so called from its grey colour, like that of the ass.

119 Or "fox" vine. This variety is unknown.

120 So called from Alexandria, in Troas, not in Egypt. Phalacra was in the vicinity of Mount Ida.

121 As the leaves of the vine are universally divided, it has been considered by many of the commentators that this is not in reality a vine, but the Arbutus uva ursi of Linnæus. The fruit, however, of that ericaceous plant is remarkably acrid, and not sweet, as Pliny states. Fée rejects this solution.

122 Aubenns, in the Vivarais, according to Hardouin; Alps, according to Brotier. We must reject this assertion as fabulous.

123 In B.C. 194, for his successes in Spain.

124 Mode of culture, locality, climate, and other extraneous circumstances, work, no doubt, an entire change in the nature of the vine.

125 Probably the first of the five that he has mentioned in c. 4.

126 He has only mentioned one sort in c. 4.

127 See c. 4.

128 See c. 4.

129 We have no corresponding word for this beverage in the English language-a thin, poor liquor, made by pouring water on the husks and stalks after being fully pressed, allowing them to soak, pressing them again, and then fermenting the liquor. It was also called "vinum operarium," or "labourer's wine." As stated in the present instance, grapes were sometimes stored in it for keeping.

130 A variety of the Aminean, as stated below.

131 See B. iii. c. 9.

132 The elder Africanus. He retired in voluntary exile to his countryseat at Liternum, where he died.

133 Mercis.

134 The suggestion of Sillig has been adopted, for the ordinary reading is evidently corrupt, and absurd as well—"not in the very worst part of a favourite locality"—just the converse of the whole tenor of the story.

135 The philosopher, and tutor of Nero.

136 Said to have been so called from Maron, a king of Thrace, who dwelt in the vicinity of the Thracian Ismarus. See B. iv. c. 18. Homer mentions this wine in the Odyssey, B. ix. c. 197, et seq. It was red, honeysweet, fragrant. The place is still called Marogna, in Roumelia, a country the wines of which are still much esteemed.

137 See B. vii. c. 57.

138 Thus making "mulsum."

139 B. ix. c. 208.

140 Indomitus.

141 By "black" wines he means those that had the same colour as our port.

142 Il. xi. 638. Od. x. 234.

143 Cybele. A wine called "Pramnian" was also grown in the island of Icaria, in Lesbos, and in the territory of Ephesus. The scholiast on Nicander says that the grape of the psythia was used in making it. Dios- corides says that it was a "protropum," first-class wine, made of the juice that voluntarily flowed from the grapes, in consequence of their own pressure.

144 B.C. 121.

145 "Cooking," literally, or "boiling."

146 The wines of Burgundy, in particular, become bitter when extremely old.

147 See B. vii. c. 18.

148 Caligula.

149 By some remarkable and peculiar quality, such as in the Opimian wine.

150 "Testa," meaning the amphora.

151 See c. 3 of the present Book, where these "picata," or "pitched- wines," have been further described.

152 On the contrary, Fée says, the coldest wines are those that contain the least alcohol, whereas those of Vienne (in modern Dauphiné) contain more than the majority of wines.

153 He implies that wine is an antidote to the poisonous effects of hemlock. This is not the case, but it is said by some that vinegar is. It is the plant hemlock (cicuta) that is meant, and not the fatal draught that was drunk by Socrates and Philopœmen. See further in B. xxiii. c. 23, and B. xxv. c. 95.

154 Clitus and Callisthenes.

155 Lacus.

156 The testa or amphora, made of earth.

157 As the wife of Augustus is meant, this reading appears preferable to "Julia."

158 Dion Cassius says "eighty-sixth."

159 See B. iii. c. 22, and B. xvii. c. 3. Pucinum was in Istria, and the district is said still to produce good wine; according to Dalechamps, the place is called Pizzino d'Istria.

160 The hills of Setia, looking down on the Pomptine Marshes: now Sezza, the wine of which is of no repute.

161 See B. iii. c. 9.

162 See B. iii. c. 9. Between Fundi and Setia; a locality now of no repute for its wines. In B. xxiii. c. 19, Pliny says, that the Cæcuban vine was extinct: but in B. xvii. c. 3, he says that in the Pomptine Marshes it was to be found.

163 This was the case, it has been remarked, with Madeira some years ago.

164 This is the most celebrated of all the ancient wines, as being more especially the theme of the poets.

165 See B. xi. c. 97. The wines of the Falernian district are no longer held in any esteem; indeed, all the Campanian wines are sour, and of a disagreeable flavour.

166 It appears to have been exceedingly rich in alcohol.

167 But in B. xxiii. c. 20, he assigns the first rank to the Albanum; possibly, however, as a medicinal wine. The wines of Latium are no longer held in esteem.

168 See B. xxiii. c. 21.

169 From Surrentum, the promontory forming the southern horn of the Bay of Naples. Ovid and Martial speak in praise of these wines; they were destitute of richness and very dry, in consequence of which they required twenty-five years to ripen.

170 Or "dead vinegar." "Vappa" was vinegar exposed to the air, and so destitute of its properties, and quite insipid.

171 Excellent wines are still produced in the vicinity of this place. Massicum was one of the perfumed wines. Gaurus itself produced the "Gauranum," in small quantity, but of high quality, full-bodied and thick.

172 For the Calenian Hills, see B. iii. c. 9; see also B. xxiii. c. 12, for some further account of the wines of Stata. The wines of that district are now held in no esteem.

173 From Fundi. See B. iii. c. 9.

174 Now Castel del Volturno: although covered with vineyards, its wines are of no account. This wine always tasted as if mixed with some foreign substance.

175 Now Piperno. It was a thin and pleasant wine.

176 Now Segni, in the States of the Church.

177 Written to the Senate, also to Cicero. We learn from Suetonius that they were partly written in cipher.

178 Messina, at the present day, exports wines of very good quality, and which attain a great age.

179 It was sound, light, and not without body.

180 "Lagenæ." The same spot, now Taormina in Sicily, between Catania and Messina, still produces excellent wines.

181 See B. iii. c. 18. Fée says that this is thought to have been the wine of Syrol, of last century, grown near Ancona.

182 "Palma." Notwithstanding this suggestion, it is more generally supposed that they had their name from the place called Palma, near Marano, on the Adriatic. Its wines are still considered of agreeable flavour.

183 The wines of modern Cezena enjoy no repute, owing, probably, to the mode of making them.

184 Probably so called because it was brought into fashion by Mæcenas.

185 See Georg. ii. 95. The wines of the Tyrol, the ancient Rhætia, are still considered as of excellent quality.

186 Of Adria, or the Adriatic Sea.

187 See B. iii. c. 20. These wines are of little repute.

188 In Latium. See B. iii. c. 9.

189 From Graviscæ. See B. iii. c. 8.

190 See B. ii. c. 96, B. iii. c. 9, and B. xxxvi. c. 49.

191 The wines of Genoa are of middling quality only, and but little known.

192 Or "juicy" wine.

193 Now Beziers, in the south of France. The wines of this part are considered excellent at the present day. That of Frontignan grows in its vicinity. Fée is inclined to think, from Pliny's remarks here, that the ancients and the moderns differed entirely in their notions as to what constitutes good or bad wine.

194 He means, beyond modern Provence, and Languedoc: districts famous for their excellent wines, more particularly the latter.

195 Fée deems all this quite incredible. Our English experience, however, tells us that it is by no means so; much of the wine that is drunk in this country is indebted for flavour as well as colour to anything but the grape.

196 The wines of modern Otranto are ordinarily of good quality.

197 Baccius reads "Seberiniana," but is probably wrong. If he is not, it might allude to the place now known as San Severino, and which produces excellent wine. Fée thinks that these wines were grown in the territory of Salerno, which still enjoys celebrity for its muscatel wines.

198 See B. iii. c. 10. The wines of modern Cosenza still enjoy a high reputation.

199 M. Valerius Messala Corvinus, the writer and partisan of Augustus. See end of B. ix.

200 A place supposed to have been situated near Thurii.

201 See B. iii. c. 15.

202 Said by Galen to be very wholesome, as well as pleasant. The wines of the vicinity of Naples are still held in high esteem.

203 Galen says that it was very similar to the Falernian.

204 See B. iii. c. 9.

205 The Trifoline territory was in the vicinity of Cumæ. It is possible that the wine may have had its name from taking three years to come to maturity; or possibly it was owing to some peculiarity in the vine.

206 They have been already mentioned in c. 4. See B. iii. c. 9.

207 Twelve o'clock in the day.

208 See B. iii. c. 4.

209 In Catalonia, which still produces abundance of wine, but in general of inferior repute.

210 The wines of Tarragona are still considered good.

211 A place in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis, destroyed by Sertorius.

212 They still enjoy a high repute. The fame of their Malvoisie has extended all over the world.

213 He means to illustrate the capricious tastes that existed as to the merits of wines.

214 In c. 6 of this Book.

215 The Chian held the first rank, the Thasian the second.

216 From Arvisium, or Ariusium, a hilly district in the centre of the island. The wine of Chios still retains its ancient celebrity.

217 It was remarkable for its sweetness, and aromatics were sometimes mixed with it. Homer calls it harmless. Lesbos still produces choice wines.

218 Near Smyrna. Probably similar to the Pramnian wine, mentioned in c. 6.

219 See B. v. c. 30. This wine is mentioned again in the next page; it is generally thought, that he is wrong in making the Tmolites and the Mesogites distinct wines, for they are supposed to have been identical.

220 If drunk by itself, and not as a flavouring for other wines.

221 Bacchus had a temple there.

222 The wines of Cyprus are the most choice of all the Grecian wines at the present day.

223 In Lycia.

224 In Syria. Wine is no longer made there, but the grapes are excellent, and are dried for raisins.

225 Now Beyrout. It does not seem that wine is made there now. The Mahometan religion may have tended to the extinction of many of these wines.

226 At the village of Sour, on the site of ancient Tyre, the grape is only cultivated for raisins.

227 See also c. 22: probably introduced from Thasos.

228 The "smoky" grape.

229 The "pitchy" grape.

230 A strong wine, Hardouin thinks, from whence its name-"strong enough to subdue a horse."

231 From the small island of Mystus, near Cephallenia.

232 So called from the vine the name of which was "canthareus."

233 Made, as already stated, from the juice that flowed spontaneously from the grapes. See also p. 250.

234 Or the "burnt up" country, a volcanic district of Mysia, which still retains its ancient fame for its wine. Virgil alludes to this wine in Georg. iv. 1. 380:— —Cape Mæonii carchesia Bacchi.

235 Perhaps from Petra in Arabia: though Fée suggests Petra in the Balearic Islands.

236 See B. iv. c. 22. In the island of Myconos in the Archipelago an excellent wine is still grown.

237 From Mount Mesogis, which divides the tributaries of the Cayster from those of the Meander. It is generally considered the same as the Tmolites.

238 Must or grape-juice boiled down to one half.

239 See B. v. c. 29.

240 "Mulsum," or honied wine, was of two kinds; honey mixed with wine, and honey mixed with must or grape-juice.

241 From its Greek name, it would seem to mean" of first quality."

242 So called from a place in Eubœa, the modern Negropont. See. B. iv. c. 20. Negropont produces good wines at the present day.

243 The locality is unknown.

244 From Leucadia, or Leucate; see B. iv. c. 2; the vine was very abundant there.

245 From Ambracia. See B. iv. c 2.

246 From the island of Peparethus. See. B. iv. c. 23, where be says that from its abundance of vines it was called ἐυοινὸς, or" Evenus."

247 B. xxiii. c. 1, and c. 26.

248 "Cadis."

249 Fée remarks that this method is still adopted in making several of the liqueurs.

250 White wine of Cos. Fée thinks that Pliny means to say that the sea water turns the must of a white or pale straw colour, and is of opinion that he has been wrongly informed.

251 "Sea-water" wine.

252 "Sea-seasoned" wine.

253 Fée says, that if the vessels were closed hermetically this would have little or no appreciable effect; if not, it would tend to spoil the wine.

254 Athenæus says that the Rhodian wine will not mix so well with seawater as the Coan. Fée remarks that if Cato's plan were followed, the wine would become vinegar long before the end of the four years.

255 Sillig thinks that the proper reading is "in six" only.

256 The sweet wines, in modern times, have the most bouquet or aroma.

257 "Albus," pale straw-colour.

258 "Fulvus," amber-colour.

259 Bright and glowing, like Tent and Burgundy.

260 "Niger," the colour of our port.

261 Supposed to be a species of Pramnian wine, mentioned in c. 6. This was used, as also the Aminean, for making omphacium, as mentioned in B. xii. c. 60. See also c. 18 of this Book.

262 "Black psythian"

263 Mentioned by Galen among the sweet wines.

264 See B. iii. c. 14. Now Solana in Sicily, which produces excellent wine.

265 Honied wine.

266 This was evidently a kind of grape sirop, or grape jelly. "Rob" is perhaps, as Hardouin suggests, a not inappropriate name for it.

267 When cold, they would have nearly the same consistency.

268 The raisin wine of Crete was the most prized of all as a class.

269 Mentioned in c. 4. Probably a muscatel grape.

270 See c. 4 of this Book.

271 Or "vat." The common reading was "oleo," which would imply that hey were plunged into boiling oil. Columella favours the latter reading, B. xii. c. 16.

272 The reading is probably defective here.

273 Passum secundarium.

274 Or "always sweet."

275 "Always must."

276 Fervere, "boil," or "effervesce."

277 "Sweet" drink. Fée seems to think that this sweet wine must have been something similar to champagne. Hardouin says that it corresponds to the vin doux de Limoux, or blanquette de Limoux, and the vin Muscat d'Azile.

278 See c. 3 of this Book.

279 "Poured," or "strained through."

280 "Honey wine." A disagreeable medicament, Fée thinks, rather than a wine.

281 Somewhat similar to the vin de premiere goutte of the French. It would seem to have been more of a liqueur than a wine. Tokay is made in a somewhat similar manner.

282 Or "second" press wines.

283 De Re Rust. c. 153.

284 Vinum operarium.

285 This method is still adopted, Fée says, in making " piquette," or small wine," throughout most of the countries of Europe.

286 Or "wine-lee drink." It would make an acid beverage, of disagreeable taste.

287 "Nobilia." In c. 29 he speaks of 195 kinds, and, reckoning all the varieties, double that number.

288 Fée observes that the varieties of the modern wines are quite innumerable. He remarks also that Pliny does not speak of the Asiatic wines mentioned by Athenæus, which were kept in large bottles, hung in the chimney corner; where the liquid, by evaporation, acquired the consistency of salt. The wines of other countries evidently were little known to Pliny.

289 "Circa pericula arbusti." This is probably the meaning of this very elliptical passage. See p. 218.

290 Called Metellus, by Valerius Maximus, B. vi. c. 3.

291 See B. xvii. c. 11.

292 Over the Celtiberi.

293 The younger Pliny, B. ii. Ep. 2, censures this stingy practice. See also Martial, B. iii. Epig. 60.

294 That this, however, was not uncommonly done, we may judge from the remark made by the governor of the feast, John ii. 10, to the bridegroom.

295 Called "myrrhina." Fée remarks that the flavour of myrrh is acrid and bitter, its odour strong and disagreeable, and says that it is difficult to conceive how the ancients could drink wine with this substance in solution.

296 As the "Persa" has come down to us, we find no mention of myrrh in the passage alluded to.

297 See B. xii. c. 49. This is mentioned in the Persa, A. i. sc. 3, 1. 7.

298 Aromatic or perfumed wines.

299 Murrhinam.

300 The Cheat or Impostor: a play of Plautus. See A. ii. sc. 4, 1. 51, et seq.

301 Must boiled down to half its original quantity.

302 Apothecas. The " apothecæ" were rooms at the top of the house, in which the wines were placed for the purpose of seasoning. Sometimes a current of smoke was directed through them. They were quite distinct from the "cella vinaria," or "wine-cellar." The Opimian wine is mentioned in c. 4.

303 This writer is unknown.

304 Or amphora.

305 Vessels containing a congius, or the eighth of an amphora, nearly six pints English.

306 As to this malady, see B. xi. c. 71.

307 B.C. 46.

308 B. xii. c. 61.

309 Or "labrusca." "Œnanthinum" means "made of vine flowers." The wild vine is not a distinct species from the cultivated vine: it is only a variety of it, known in botany as the Vitis silvestris labrusca of Tournefort. Fée thinks that as the must could only be used in autumn, when the wild vine was not flowering, the flowers of it must have been dried.

310 "Solstitiales." Because they withstand the heat of the solstice. Marcellus Empiricus calls them "caniculati," because they bear the heat of the Dog-star.

311 Fée remarks that this assertion is quite erroneous.

312 From the Greek, meaning" without strength." The mixture, Fee remarks, would appear to be neither potable nor wholesome.

313 See B. xviii. c. 24. A kind of beer might be made with it, Fée says; but this mixture must have been very unpalatable.

314 See B. xiii. c. 32.

315 A vinous drink may be made in the manner here stated; but the palm. wine of the peoples of Asia and Africa is only made of the fermented sap of the tree. See B. xiii. c. 9.

316 He says "caryotæ," and not chydææ, in B. xiii. c. 4. The modius was something more than our peck.

317 From the Greek σύκη, a "fig." This wine was made, Fée thinks, from the produce of some variety of the sycamore. See B. xiii. c. 14.

318 "Prime palm" apparently.

319 Tortivum, probably: the second squeezing.

320 See B. xiii. c. 15.

321 See B. xiii. c. 14.

322 See B. xiii. c. 16.

323 From ῥόα, a "pomegranate."

324 Dioscorides calls it "strobilites." Fée says that they could be of no service in producing a vinous drink.

325 See B. xv. c. 37.

326 Or "myrtle wine."

327 Myrtle will not make a wine, but simply a medicament, in which wine is the menstruum.

328 Artemisia abrotonum of Linnæus.

329 Ruta graveolens of Linnæus.

330 Nepeta cataria of Linnæus.

331 Thymus serpyllum of Linnæus.

332 Marrubium vulgare of Linnæus.

333 Grape-juice boiled down to one-third.

334 Brassica napus of Linnæus.

335 Scilla marina of Linnæus.

336 Nardus Gallicus, or Valeriana Celtica of Linnæus. See B. xii. c. 26.

337 Nardus silvestris or baccaris.

338 Aromatic wines.

339 In c. 15 of this Book.

340 Valeriana Celtica.

341 Convolvulus scoparius of Linnæus.

342 Andropogon schœnanthus of Linnæus.

343 Costus Indicus of Linnæus.

344 Andropogon nardus of Linnæus.

345 See B. xiii. c. 2.

346 See B. xii. c. 43.

347 Crocus sativus of Linnæus.

348 Asarum Europæum of Linnæus.

349 See B. xii. c. 59.

350 Condita.

351 Piperata.

352 Inula helenium of Linnæus. See B. xxi. c. 91.

353 Medicago sativa of Linnæus.

354 Symphytum officinale of Linnæus, being all different varieties.

355 "Absinthites;" made of the Artemisia Pontica of Linnæus. A medicinal wine is still prepared with wormwood; and "apsinthe," a liqueur much esteemed in France, is made from it.

356 Hyssopites.

357 Hyssopites officinalis of Linnæus.

358 Helleborites.

359 Scammonites.

360 Fée says that this is not the fact; and queries whether the vulgar notion still entertained on this subject, may not be traced up to our author. It is a not uncommon belief that roses smell all the sweeter if onions are planted near them.

361 Lavendula stœchas of Linnæus. See B. xxvii. c. 107.

362 Gentiana lutea of Linnæus. See B. xxv. c. 34. Gentian wine is still made.

363 Thymus tragoriganum of Linnæus. See B. xx. c. 68.

364 Origanum dictamnus of Linnæus. See B. xxv. c. 63.

365 Asarum Europæum of Linnæus. See B. xii. c. 27.

366 Query, if not carrot? See B. xxv. c. 64.

367 A variety of salvia or sage: it will be mentioned again, further on.

368 Laserpitium hirsutum of Linnæus. See B. xxv. cc. 11, 12, and 13.

369 Acorus calamus of Linnæus. See B. xxv. c. 100.

370 See B. xxi. c. 32.

371 See B. xxi. c. 31.

372 Atrapora mandragora of Linnæus. This wine would act as a narcotic poison, it would appear.

373 Andropogon schœnanthus of Linnæus. See B. xxi. c. 72.

374 The origin and meaning of these names are unknown.

375 See B. xii. c. 11. Juniperus Lycia, and Juniperus Phœnicea of Linnæus.

376 Cupressus sempervirens of Linnæus.

377 Laurus nobilis of Linnæus. See B. xv. c. 39.

378 Juniperus communis of Linnæus.

379 See B. xiii. c. 12. The Pistacia terebinthus of Linnæus.

380 See B. xii. c. 36. The Pistacia lentiscus of Linnæus.

381 "Chamelæ." The Granium Cnidium, Daphne Cnidium, and Daphne cneorum of Linnæus. See B. xiii. c. 35. Venomous plants, which, taken internally, would be productive of dangerous results.

382 Chamæpitrys. The Teucrium chamæpitrys of Linnæus. See B. xxv. c. 20.

383 Chamædrys. The Teucrium chamædrys of Linnæus. See B. xxiv. c. 80. Dioscorides mentions most of these so-called wines.

384 Mead, or metheglin, See B. xxii. c. 51.

385 There is no ground, Fée says, for this recommendation.

386 Stoves are now used for this purpose.

387 "Hydromēlum," on the other hand, made of water and apples, was the same as our modern cider.

388 See B. xxiii. c. 9.

389 "Subfervefactis." "Just come on the boil."

390 The oxymel of modern times contains no salt, and is only used as a medicament.

391 As drinks, no doubt; and with good reason, as to most of them.

392 Coactus.

393 Our medicinal wines will mostly keep longer than this, owing probably to the difference in the mode of making the real wines that form their basis.

394 There is little doubt that this is fabulous: wine taken in excess, we know, is productive of loss of the senses, frenzy in the shape of delirium tremens.

395 This is not unlikely; for, as Fée remarks, the red wines, containing a large proportion of alcohol, act upon the brain and promote sleep, while the white wines, charged with carbonic gas, are productive of wakefulness.

396 Or healing vine. See B. xxiii. c. 11.

397 "Libanios." Probably incense was put in this wine, to produce the flavour.

398 From ἀ, "not," and σπένδειν, to make libation."

399 See c. 9 of this Book. It was introduced, probably, from Thasos.

400 From e)kaba/llw, "to eject."

401 Apothecis.

402 He alludes to the working of wines in periods of extreme heat; also in the spring.

403 Of our modern wines, Madeira and Bourdeaux improve by being carried across sea. Burgundy, if any thing, deteriorates, by the diminution of its bouquet.

404 After the grapes had been trodden and pressed, the husks were taken out and their edges cut, and then again subjected to pressure: the result was known as "tortivum," or "circumcisivum," a wine of very inferior quality.

405 He alludes to the young shoots, which have an agreeable acidity, owing to acetic and tartaric acids.

406 Acetic acid; the result, no doubt, of the faulty mode of manufacture universally prevalent; their wines contained evidently but little alcohol.

407 See B. xxiii. c. 24, and B. xxxvi. c. 48.

408 A process very likely, as Fée remarks, to turn the wines speedily to vinegar.

409 Down to one-third. This practice of using boiled grape-juice as a seasoning, is still followed in Spain in making some of the liqueurs; but it is not generally recommended.

410 B. xvi. c. 21.

411 Asia Minor, namely.

412 B. xiii. c. 12.

413 B. xii. c. 37.

414 It produces but a very minute quantity of resin, which is no longer an article of commerce.

415 See B. xiii. c. 11, and B. xvi. c. 21. Not the cedar of Lebanon, probably, which only gives a very small quantity of resin, but one of the Junipers.

416 Fée suggests that this may have been the resin of the Arabian terebinth.

417 See B. xxiv. c. 22.

418 Perhaps from the Pistacia terebinthus of Linnæus.

419 This was made from the terebinth: but the modern resin of Colophon is extracted from varieties of the coniferæ.

420 See B. xxiv. c. 22.

421 Earths are not soluble in oils.

422 As being a mark of extreme effeminacy.

423 The greater the quantity of alcohol, the more resin the wine would be able to hold in solution.

424 See B. xvi. c. 22.

425 "Crapula" properly means head-ache, and what is not uncommonly known as "seedness." Resined wine was thought to be productive of these effects, and hence obtained the name. This kind of wine was used itself, as we see above, in seasoning the other kinds. Fée remarks, that in reality resins have no such effect as imparting body to weak wines.

426 The whole of this passage is hopelessly corrupt, and we can only guess at the meaning.

427 We have already stated that "vappa" is properly vinegar, which has been exposed to the air and has lost its flavour. In this fresh chemical change, which he calls a second fermentation, the wine becomes vinegar; and probably in the cases he mentions, for some peculiar reason, its speedy transition to "vappa" could not be arrested.

428 Mixed with water, it was the "posca," or common drink of the Roman soldiers; and it was used extensively both by Greeks and Romans in their cooking, and at meals.

429 In c. 24.

430 By the mixture of ashes, Fée says, the wines would lose their colour, and have a detestable alkaline flavour.

431 A perfect absurdity, Fée remarks.

432 B. xvi. cc. 16—23.

433 Bitterness, driness, and a disagreeable smell.

434 Georg. ii. 498.

435 See B. iv. c. 12.

436 See B. xii. c. 36.

437 See B. xxi. c. 19.

438 Bees' wax, Fée remarks, would not have this effect, but vinegar vessels would.

439 De Re Rust. c. 23.

440 The second "squeezings."

441 If the wine is turning to vinegar, subacetate of lead will be formed.

442 They are tartrates, and have no affinity at all with nitre.

443 Casks, in fact, similar to those used in France at the present day. In Spain they use earthen jars and the skins of animals.

444 Oblong earthen vessels, used as vats.

445 Ventruosa." He means "round."

446 As oblong ones, probably.

447 While fermenting, and before racking off.

448 Flos vini, the Mycoderma vini of Desmazieres, a mould or pellicule which forms on the surface, and afterwards falls and is held in suspension.

449 Vessels of lead are never used for this purpose at the present day; as that metal would oxidize too rapidly, and liquids would have great difficulty in coming to a boil. A slow fire must have been used by the ancients.

450 They were thought to give a bad flavour to the sapa or defrutum.

451 A mere puerility, as Fée remarks.

452 He does not state the reason, nor does it appear to be known. At the present day warmed wine is sometimes given to a jaded horse, to put him on his legs again.

453 Though practised by those who wished to drink largely, this was considered to diminish the flavour of delicate wines.

454 See B. xxii. c. 23, and B. xxv. c. 95; also c. 7 of the present Book. Wine is no longer considered an antidote to cicuta or hemlock.

455 See B. xxxvi. c. 42.

456 This seems to be the meaning of "lectum;" but the passage is obscure.

457 Tunicam.

458 He satirizes, probably, some kind of gymnastic exercises that had been introduced to promote the speedy passage of the wine through the body.

459 "In vino veritas."

460 Fée remarks that this is one proof that the wine of the ancients was essentially different in its nature from ours. In our day wine gives anything but a "pallid" hue.

461 "Rapere vitam."

462 See B. xxiii. c. 23.

463 Three gallons and three pints!! There must have been some jugglery in this performance.

464 Probably towards those guilty of excesses in wine.

465 As Præfectus Urbis.

466 Love of drinking.

467 The mode of testing whether any "heeltaps" were left or not. It was this custom, probably, that gave rise to the favourite game of the cottabus.

468 Dr. Middleton, in his Life of Cicero, in his unlimited partiality for the family, quotes this as an instance of courage and high spirit.

469 According to Paterculus, lie was fond of driving about in a chariot, crowned with ivy, a golden goblet in his hand, and dressed like Bacchus, by which title he ordered himself to be addressed.

470 He alludes to beer, or rather sweet wort, for hops were not used till the latter part, probably, of the middle ages. Lupines were sometimes used for flavouring beer.

471 Diodorus Siculus says that the Egyptian beer was nearly equal to wine in strength and flavour.

472 See end of B. iii.

473 See end of B. vii.

474 See end of B. vii.

475 See end of B. iii.

476 See end of B.. x.

477 See end of B. xi.

478 See end of B. ii.

479 Decimus Junius Silanus. He was commissioned by the senate, about B.C. 146, to translate into Latin the twenty-eight books of Mago, the Carthaginian, on Agriculture. See B. xviii. c. 5.

480 See end of B. x.

481 See end of B. vii.

482 See end of B. iii.

483 See end of B. iii.

484 Julius Greecinus. He was one of the most distinguished orators of his time. Having refused to accuse M. Julius Silanus, he was put to death A.D. 39. He wrote a work, in two books, on the culture of the vine.

485 He was a contemporary of Celsus and Columella, the latter of whom states that he wrote a work on a peculiar method of cultivating the vine. See also B. xvii. c. 18.

486 See end of B. viii.

487 See end of B. vii.

488 See end of B. viii.

489 Nothing is known of him. He may possibly have written on Husbandry, and seems to have spoken in dispraise of the son of Cicero. See c 28 of the present Book.

490 The famous Roman Comic poet, born B.C. 184. Twenty of his comedies are still in existence.

491 For Alfius Flavius, see end of B. ix.; for Cneius Flavius, see end of B. xii.

492 Or Dorsenus Fabius, an ancient Comic dramatist, censured by Horace for the buffoonery of his characters, and the carelessness of his productions. In the 15th Chapter of this Book, Pliny quotes a line from his Acharistio.

493 Q. Mutius Scævola, consul B.C. 95, and assassinated by C. Flavius Fimbria, having been proscribed by the Marian faction. He wrote several works on the Roman law, and Cicero was in the number of his disciples.

494 Sextus Ælius Pætus Catus, a celebrated jurisconsult, and consul B.C. 198. He wrote a work on the Twelve Tables.

495 See end of B. iii.

496 A freedman of Pompey, by whose command he translated into Latin the work of Mithridates on Poisons. After Pompey's death, he maintained himself by keeping a school at Rome.

497 See end of B. ii.

498 For Fabianus Papirius, see end of B. ii. Fabianus Sabinus is supposed to have been the same person.

499 See end of B. xii.

500 He is mentioned by the elder Seneca, but nothing whatever is known of him.

501 See end of B. vii.

502 See end of B. iii.

503 See end of B. ii.

504 See end of B. ii.

505 See end of B. viii.

506 See end of B. viii.

507 See end of B. viii.

508 See end of B. iv.

509 See end of B. viii.

510 See end of B. viii.

511 See end of B. viii.

512 See end of B. viii.

513 See end of B. viii.

514 See end of B. viii.

515 See end of B. viii.

516 See end of B. viii.

517 See end of B. xiii.

518 See end of B. viii.

519 See end of B. vi.

520 See end of B. viii.

521 Supposed to have been a writer on Agriculture, but nothing further is known of him.

522 See end of B. viii.

523 See end of B. viii.

524 See end of B. ii.

525 See end of B. x.

526 See end of B. viii.

527 See end of B. viii.

528 See end of B. viii.

529 See end of B. viii.

530 See end of B. xii.

531 See end of B. viii.

532 See end of B vii.

533 See end of B. ii.

534 See end of B. v.

535 Son of Corvinus Messala. He appears to have been a man of bad repute: of his writings nothing seems to be known.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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Cross-references to this page (1):
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), CADUS
Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (12):
- Lewis & Short, Fălernus ăger
- Lewis & Short, ăb-undo
- Lewis & Short, census
- Lewis & Short, dē-tĭnĕo
- Lewis & Short, fēlix
- Lewis & Short, fertĭlis
- Lewis & Short, flōs
- Lewis & Short, in-dŏcĭlis
- Lewis & Short, internĕcĭo
- Lewis & Short, laxĭtas
- Lewis & Short, pessum
- Lewis & Short, stĕrĭlĭtas

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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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Table of Contents:

BOOK XIV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FRUIT TREES.

CHAPS. 1 & 2. (1.)—THE NATURE OF THE VINE. ITS MODE OF FRUCTIFICATION.

CHAP. 3.–THE NATURE OF THE GRAPE, AND THE CULTIVATION OF THE VINE.

CHAP. 4. (2.)—NINETY-ONE VARIETIES OF THE VINE.

CHAP. 5. (4.)—REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH THE CULTURE OF THE VINE.

CHAP. 6.—THE MOST ANCIENT WINES.

CHAP. 7. (5.)—THE NATURE OF WINES.

CHAP. 8. (6.)—FIFTY KINDS OF GENEROUS WINES.

CHAP. 9. (7.)—THIRTY-EIGHT VARIETIES OF FOREIGN WINES.

CHAP. 10. (8.)—SEVEN KINDS OF SALTED WINES.

CHAP. 11. (9.)—EIGHTEEN VARIETEIS OF SWEET WINE. RAISIN-WINE AND HEPSEMA.

CHAP. 12. (10.)—THREE VARIETIES OF SECOND-RATE WINE.

CHAP. 13. (11.)—AT WHAT PERIOD GENEROUS WINES WERE FIRST COMMONLY MADE IN ITALY.

CHAP. 14. (12.)—THE INSPECTION OF WINE ORDERED BY KING ROMULUS.

CHAP. 15.—WINES DRUNK BY THE ANCIENT ROMANS.

CHAP. 16. (14.)—SOME REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH WINE-LOFTS. THE OPIMIAN WINE.

CHAP. 17.—AT WHAT PERIOD FOUR KINDS OF WINE WERE FIRST SERVED AT TABLE.

CHAP. 18. (16.)—THE USES OF THE WILD VINE. WHAT JUICES ARE NATURALLY THE COLDEST OF ALL.

CHAP. 19.—SIXTY-SIX VARIETIES OF ARTIFICIAL WINE.

CHAP. 20. (1 7.)—HYDROMELI, OR MELICRATON.

CHAP. 21.—OXYMELI.

CHAP. 22. (18.)—TWELVE KINDS OF WINE WITH MIRACULOUS PROPERTIES.

CHAP. 23. (19.)—WHAT WINES IT IS NOT LAWFUL TO USE IN THE SACRED RITES.

CHAP. 24.—How MUST IS USUALLY PREPARED.

CHAP. 25. (20.)—PITH AND RESIN.

CHAP. 26.—VINEGAR-LEES OF WINE.

CHAP. 27. (21.)—WINE-VESSELS—WINE-CELLARS.

CHAP. 28. (22.)—DRUNKENNESS.

CHAP. 29.—LIQUORS WITH THE STRENGTH OF WINE MADE FROM WATER AND CORN.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

This text is part of:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View text chunked by:

Table of Contents:

BOOK XIV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FRUIT TREES.

CHAPS. 1 & 2. (1.)—THE NATURE OF THE VINE. ITS MODE OF FRUCTIFICATION.

CHAP. 3.–THE NATURE OF THE GRAPE, AND THE CULTIVATION OF THE VINE.

CHAP. 4. (2.)—NINETY-ONE VARIETIES OF THE VINE.

CHAP. 5. (4.)—REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH THE CULTURE OF THE VINE.

CHAP. 6.—THE MOST ANCIENT WINES.

CHAP. 7. (5.)—THE NATURE OF WINES.

CHAP. 8. (6.)—FIFTY KINDS OF GENEROUS WINES.

CHAP. 9. (7.)—THIRTY-EIGHT VARIETIES OF FOREIGN WINES.

CHAP. 10. (8.)—SEVEN KINDS OF SALTED WINES.

CHAP. 11. (9.)—EIGHTEEN VARIETEIS OF SWEET WINE. RAISIN-WINE AND HEPSEMA.

CHAP. 12. (10.)—THREE VARIETIES OF SECOND-RATE WINE.

CHAP. 13. (11.)—AT WHAT PERIOD GENEROUS WINES WERE FIRST COMMONLY MADE IN ITALY.

CHAP. 14. (12.)—THE INSPECTION OF WINE ORDERED BY KING ROMULUS.

CHAP. 15.—WINES DRUNK BY THE ANCIENT ROMANS.

CHAP. 16. (14.)—SOME REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH WINE-LOFTS. THE OPIMIAN WINE.

CHAP. 17.—AT WHAT PERIOD FOUR KINDS OF WINE WERE FIRST SERVED AT TABLE.

CHAP. 18. (16.)—THE USES OF THE WILD VINE. WHAT JUICES ARE NATURALLY THE COLDEST OF ALL.

CHAP. 19.—SIXTY-SIX VARIETIES OF ARTIFICIAL WINE.

CHAP. 20. (1 7.)—HYDROMELI, OR MELICRATON.

CHAP. 21.—OXYMELI.

CHAP. 22. (18.)—TWELVE KINDS OF WINE WITH MIRACULOUS PROPERTIES.

CHAP. 23. (19.)—WHAT WINES IT IS NOT LAWFUL TO USE IN THE SACRED RITES.

CHAP. 24.—How MUST IS USUALLY PREPARED.

CHAP. 25. (20.)—PITH AND RESIN.

CHAP. 26.—VINEGAR-LEES OF WINE.

CHAP. 27. (21.)—WINE-VESSELS—WINE-CELLARS.

CHAP. 28. (22.)—DRUNKENNESS.

CHAP. 29.—LIQUORS WITH THE STRENGTH OF WINE MADE FROM WATER AND CORN.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.